By Dawn
by ClaraOswinPond
Summary: The Doctor and his companion Ena just wanted to spend a day in a future Atlanta, but all they find is a destroyed city and a mysterious virus that turns people into monsters. Can the Doctor figure out what s going on?
1. Chapter 1 - Prologue

-By Dawn-

Prologue

There was this beautiful, familiar sound when the TARDIS landed and the Doctor rushed to the doors.

„Let´s see where we´ve landed!", he said excited.

„You said it´s 2030.", I replied.

„Yes! And I tried to hit Atlanta, but I´m afraid I missed it a bit."

I straightened my dress so it fitted properly and followed him out of the TARDIS.

What I saw wasn´t Atlanta. Or, propably it was, but not as people knew it.

We were on a destroyed bridge. Under us was a huge river floating.

„So, how much did you miss it?", I asked, looking around for the Doctor who was running around to check his environment.

„I didn´t. We are in the center, actually. Look at that." He pointed in the direction behind me, so I turned around to find that we just landed in a total destroyed city.

There were holes in the asphalt, cars lying on their sides or on their roofs.

Houses and Sky scratchers looked like ruins, glass was everywhere. And then the bridge we were standing on: the part that should be above the water was completely gone, just like it fell into the river.

Everything looked like straight out of an apocalypse movie.

„What the hell happened here. This looks like a scene from ´The walking

dead`", I said in total disbelief.

This couldn´t be real. Maybe we were still in the TARDIS and I was in my bed, dreaming.

„Doctor, what´s going on here?", I asked with a shaky voice.

Right at this moment a shot fell and I heard glas break.

I heard the Doctor gasp and turned around in shock.

He was unharmed, but the bullet hit one of the TARDIS´ windows.

„Nonononono!"

The Doctor was upset now, running towards is ship, when another shot fell.

A scream escaped my mouth and I ducked behind a car to not get shot.

„Doctor! Get down!"

The second shot ripped a little hole into the right frontdoor.

I couldn´t see much, but I could hear the Doctor shout in fury.

„Stop shooting at my ship!"

It was just now, that I saw two military jeeps standing just a few meters away from where we´ve landed.

Then I heard the familiar sound of the TARDIS dematerializing.

I got up again to see what was going on.

„No! Don´t do this now!", the Doctor shouted at his ship, looking desperate.

„What´s going on?" I had reached his side now.

„When the TARDIS is under attack she dematerializes.", the time lord replied breathless.

„Dematerializing where?" I couldn´t manage to sound calm.

„Somewhere.", he said, gesturing wildly with his hands and utter despair in his face.

„Great!", I gasped.

The Doctor suddenly stopped staring at where the TARDIS was standing a few seconds ago and turned his head.

„Oh, dear."

I turned around. About a dozen soldiers came out of their hiding places and out of the jeeps now, pointing their guns at us. My eyes widened and I

couldn´t stop my body from shaking.

For a moment we just stared at them, then we heard an order.

„Shoot them!"

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver to block the weapons, but that

wasn´t going to take an effect for long.

„Run!"

I spinned around and starting running as fast as I could, the Doctor right in front of me.

He was heading for the end of the bridge!

Behind us I could hear the soldiers swear, because their guns wouldn´t work, but, just as we reached the middle of what was left of the bridge, I could hear a bgun firing again.

The bullet hit a sign just right beside my head. I couldn´t help but let out a scream.

„What are you doing?!", I shrieked as the Doctor kept running straight towards edge.

„Trust me!"

The next shot just missed me a few milimeters and I speeded up.

„Doctor!"

I saw him jump. Then he was gone.

„No!"

I felt tears in my eyes as I reached the edge of the bridge and looked down into the water race.

This was the only opportunity I had besides getting shot, so I follwed the Doctor and jumped off the egde.

The water was icy. I could feel my clothes soaking the wet up and getting impossibly heavy. The waters´ race didn´t make things easier, I tried hard to stay on the surface. It worked for a few moments, but soon I got weak and the

stream kept pulling me under water. I desperatly tried to get enough air in my lungs, but it didn´t work.

 _I´m going to die._

My body got weaker every time I got under water and I could feel my consciousness fade.

Suddenly, I could feel something pulling me and something that felt like clothes. I grabbed it with both hands and clasped onto it as hard as I could.

Then I fell into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2 - Down

+1+

„Ena."

My name... I could hear my name. But from so far away...

„Hey, wake up!"

I knew that voice, it made me feel safe. I smiled. The darkness seemed to fade

slowly.

„Ena!"

I blinked against the light as I opened my eyes. It took some moments until my vision cleared and I realized what happened a few moments ago.

„Ah, there you are, back again."

A hand patted my head and I could see the Doctor´s smiling face above me.

„You´re alright?"

I wanted to answer, but all I got out was coughing. He helped me to sit up and after a couple of moments the coughing was over and I breathed heavily.

„What happened?"

„You swallowed too much water.", he said, now looking a bit worried „I´m sorry, but it was the only way."

„I know. And we´re still alive aren´t we?", I smiled.

Turning my head to look around I found that we were no longer in the city itself, but in a forest. The river was nowhere to be seen, but I could still hear it in the distance.

The Doctor must have pulled me out ot the water and carried me here.

I looked at him.

„Thank you."

„You´re welcome. Can you stand?", he asked and offered me his hand to get up.

I still felt a bit dizzy, but I could manage walking.

„It´s okay, I´m fine.", I said.

„Right. I don´t know how far the river has been taking us, but I think it still is Atlanta.", the Doctor said.

„Also, I don´t know where the TARDIS is and how to find her, so we don´t have much choice, but just get walking."

The alien looked around as if he was unsure which direction to choose.

The situation was weird and a bit frightening. We were in a forest somewhere in or near Atlanta, we didn´t have the TARDIS, almost got shot and the city was more like a battlefield than an actual city. Something was very wrong here

and I was pretty sure the Doctor had already decided to find out what.

„This looks like someone has been walking here before." I heard the timelord mumble and got closer to him to see what he saw.

The grass was flattened and actually looked like a path leading into the forest.

„You´re coming?", he said and started walking.

„Do I have a choice?", I asked and followed him straight into the woods.

While walking I felt my legs being scratched and poked by the grass and little bushes alongside the path. I cursed myself for having chosen a dress over a pair of jeans.

„If you don´t know how to find the TARDIS then how are we going to get her back?", I asked.

„I don´t know. She´ll propably just pop up sometime. I just installed the defence systems, but they need some further development! I forgot to take them of after working on it."

„What do we do if she doesn´t come back?"

„Oh, don´t worry, I´m really sure she will! She always does!", the Doctor turned his head to give me an assuring smile, but it didn´t really work on me.

If we really lost the TARDIS and she would not return, we would have to stay in 2030. All my friends and my family and my fiancee would suddenly be much older. Also, they wouldn´t have seen or heard of me in about 14 years!

Quickly I wiped away that thought and decided to focus on what was happening right now. Why had there been soldiers and why did they try to shoot us and what made the city look like that?

The Doctor lead us deeper and deeper into the woods until he suddenly stopped.

„What´s wrong?", I just wanted to asked, but stopped myself from doing so.

I saw what was wrong.

The small path we were following disappeared behind a huge gate made of wood.

There also was a fence, at least 3 meters high, on both sides of the gates, reaching into the forest to both sides.

„What´s that?"

„It´s a fence.", the Doctor replied.

I sighed. The wrong questions always got you the wrong answers. I tried again.

„What´s it build for?"

„Interesting question.", the Doctor stated while he fumbling in his jacket to get the sonic screwdriver out.

„Let´s find out!"

Luckily the lock of the gate was made of metal, so the Doctor could easily open it with his gadget.

He closed the gate as we´ve walked through and looked around.

The area we were standing in wasn´t any different than the forest behind the gate and the fence, so what was that fence good for?

The Doctor scanned the surroundig with his screwdriver, but I could see in his face that he didn´t get any results of anomaly.

„What are you here for?", he said more to himself(and the fence) than to me. „What are you supposed to keep out? Or in?"

„Doctor, the path continues.", I stated.

„Oh, yes, good!"

The weirdest thing in here was, that we couldn´t see how wide the area was that was surrounded by the fence, because it reached so deep into woods.

Neither on the left nor on the right side we could see the fence, so the space surrounded by it must have been huge.

„It´s huge.", the Doctor whispered, in that exact moment, but then followed the path that continued its way straight ahead.

After a couple of minutes I noticed that the trees were getting less. About one-third of the tree population had been fell.

„Look! There´s another fence coming!"

„What?"

He was right. As I turned my head to look front again I saw it too.

Another gate, another fence. This time made of wire mesh.

„What the hell is this place?"

I didn´t like this, my gut instinct was telling me we shouldn´t be here, but my mind screamed at me to go on and find out what was going on.

This time we could see how big the surrounded area was. It was much smaller than the one we were standing in now, propably as big as a pitch.

What we also could see were trees, except in this area they hadn´t been fell.

„What´s so special about this space?", the Doctor said lost in thoughts.

There were sounds coming from inside the forest, from behind the fence.

„Maybe this area is dangerous. I mean, taking a look at what the city looked like..."

„Sssh."

It´s sounded like animals, but then again it didn´t. It was some kind of grunting.

„It´s propably a minefield and we´re getting blown up if we walk in..."

And some sort of growling.

„Doctor, shush!"

„Oi, don´t shush me!"

„Don´t you hear that?", I whispered.

He stopped arguing and listened.

„Sounds like some predator..."

Carefully he raised his arm and soniced the lock to open the gate. We skipped through and stood still, listening.

„I can´t relate this to any animal I´ve ever heard.", the time lord stated.

I nodded. The sound was terrifying. Slowly and very careful we started sneaking towards the sound.

„When I soniced this area it wasn´t showing any life signs.", the Doctor said in a whisper.

„How is that possible? There clearly is something!", I whispered back.

„I know!"

We hid behind an aggregation of large bushes, trying to descry the source of the sound.

We actually found something. Cages. We reached the middle of the area and there were cages about 2 meters high and wide, six of them standing next to each other, another 10 surrounded the six cages in the middle like someone was trying to form the letter „U" with them.

„Come on.", the Doctor said pulling me by the hand, leaving our hiding place and heading straight towards the cages.

Since we only saw the backsides of them we didn´t know what to expect.

The Doctor walked around the cages and pulled me with him until we were

standing exactly between the cages.

A gasp. The Doctor didn´t say a word, there was horror written all over his face.

I clapped my hand over my mouth. Pure terror was in my eyes as I looked around. The Doctors´grip on my wrist had become so hard I almost feared he could break it.

The source of the noises, and what was in those cages, were humans.

They´re faces were completely blank (like all of their emotions had been erased),deformed, with mouths wide open, an covered in blood. Some of them had huge wounds in their faces or on other bosyparts. The clothes they were wearing were ragged and dirty and also full of dried blood. They reached their arms out as if they were going to grab us, but the cagedoors stopped them.

„Zombies.", the Doctor gasped. „Real, acutal zombies."

The smell coming from them was incredibly disgusing. I raised my arm to cover my nose and mouth.

„That´s why the sonic didn´t show any lifesigns..", the Doctor said, „they´re dead. Living dead. Undead. Zombies!"

Once I found my speech back again I managed to ask:

„What made them like that?"

The Doctor let go of my hand and took out the sonic screwdriver again.

I was pretty sure this all was just a bad dream and I was about to wake up any second now, safe and sound in my bed and my boyfriend would have brought me breakfast.

But the familiar sound of the screwdriver called me back to reality again.

„I think it´s a virus.", the time lord said.

„A virus?"

„Yes. There´s something in their DNA that the sonic screwdriver can´t recognize, but he detected a desease, something unknown yet."

Still I couldn´t really think of something to say about the situation or even think properly. This was just so unbelievable. This was one of the things I thought would only be happening in comics, books, movies or video games, but never in real life.

Suddenly the Doctor grabbed my wrist again and dragged me a few meters away from the cages.

„What are you doing?"

„We don´t know how its transmitted, so better stay away from them."

I paled. What if I just had to breath in some of their bacteria or something ant then turned into a creature like them?

The Doctor seemed to have the same thought and soniced us both.

„No signs of the unknown thing.", he said with a look of relief.

„We have to find out who´s responsible for this."

„I already waited for you to say that.", I said and couldn´t stop me from grinning at him (which actually felt a bit absrud considered to what we just found) and he smiled back.

„Come on then!"

He turned in his heels and started walking the surroundings without even knowing what he was looking for. He did that quite often.

Since I couldn´t stand the noise or the smell of the creatures in the cages I decide to help him.

„Hey! I found something!"

I turned my head and found the Doctor standing about 5 meters away from me, pointing at the floor.

As soon as I got to him he soniced the floor. Then I saw that it wasn´t actually floor. It was a trap door.

„Where do you think this is leading to?", I asked as I helped him to open it.

„I don´t know, but it´s not really a trap door. Look, stairs."

We were looking into a tunnel that reached into the earth. Since there wasn´t any light down there we couldn´t see the end of the stairs.

„Let´s see where this is leading to."

With a swing of his wirst he turned the familiar green light of the sonic screwdriver into a bright light one, so it could be used as a torch.

„I´ll go first, God knows what´s down there."

I protested.

„You can´t just leave me here!"

„I won´t! I just want to check if it´s safe down there then you can come too! If I don´t get back in an hour get some help."

I crossed my arms over my chest.

„I won´t let you go in there alone you might need someone!"

„I don´t need you to protect me!"

„And I don´t want you to protect me by risking your own life!"

Angrily I glared at him. We´ve been travelling for a while now and he knows how much I hate it to be left behind.

For a moment he just looked at me. Then he finally agreed.

„Okay, fine.", he said with quite an effort.

„But don´t blame me if you get eaten up! Or blown up! Or shot! Or.."

„Alright, I get it!", I interruptet him, „Let´s go!"

„Right then.", he murmured and started walking down the stairs and into the darkness.


	3. Chapter 3 - Beneath

+3+

Beneath the earth

The stairs led us about 20 meters beneath the earth before they ended and we were faced with a metal door.

„It looks like a bunker." I said.

The Doctor nodded and checked the door with his screwdriver.

Then he turned around and looked at me.

„Listen, I don´t know what or who we are going to find, but I´m asking you now what I always ask: don´t wander off! Stay close to me, don´t explore anything on your own and don´t let anyone convince you to follow them without me. I am pretty sure we have found something we really shouldn´t and whoever is responsible for it won´t like that." He looked at me, having his worried face on.

„I promise.", I just said. It felt a bit uncomfortable to know that there clearly was danger coming, but not to know in what form or which face it would wear.

„Good.", he said with a small smile and turned to unlock the door.

I tried my best to hide my fear (like always), but I couldn´t stop my body from slightly trembling. The door revealed a floor, really long and really dark. Everything was made of concrete, the walls the floor and the ceiling.

We slowly moved on and when the door behind us thunked shut the Doctor changed the light of the sonic screwdriver to white again.

A scream escaped me as the bright light revealed three figures were standing in the dark. Three man were standing in front of us. One was really tall (about

2 meters), young and had dark skin and short dark hair. The one in the middle was wearing a beard and long hair which he put together in a ponytail. He was about 55 and most of his hair was already grey. The third one was very young, about 18 with a trained shape, blonde hair, blue eyes and a baby face.

All of them wore normal clothes, a jeans and a shirt and all of them had their guns pointed at us.

The Doctor gasped and immediatley raised his arms.

„Please don´t shoot!"

I did the same.

The beardy one took his eyes off me and turned his head a bit to look at the Doctor.

„Who are you and how did you get in?"

The Doctor answered him.

„I´m the Doctor and this is my friend Ena, we got lost in the forest and... just got here."

The beardy one took a step forward.

„How did you get in?"

„Well, we used the gates..."  
„The gates and doors are always locked!", the man interrupted the time lord and took another step closer. I swallowed nervously.

The Doctor smiled.

„I´ve got some tricks.", he simply said.

„The Doctor, mhh?", the beardy one growled now standing right in front of the Doctor so he could place his gun on the aliens forhehead.

I could see him swallow nervously and moving his fingers like he always does when he´s excited or nervous.

„Doctor who?"

„Just the Doctor."

For a moment Beardy just stared at him and he grabbed the screwdriver and ripped it out of the Doctor´s hand.

„Hey! That´s really rude!", the Doctor revolted, but fell silent when the gun was back against his head.

„What´s that? Is it a weapon?"

„No, it´s a screwdriver, a sonic screwdriver."

„Really? What would you need that for?"

The Doctor hesitated before he answered.

„It can open doors."

„Ah, that´s how you got in, then." Beardy smiled and passed the sonic screwdriver to the younger one and told the tall one to search me for weapons.

„Don´t you touch her!"

„Shut up!", and the gun was back.

I felt a bit umcomfortable, but I let it happen. The giant took my bag from me which was still hanging around my shoulders (I wondered how I managed not to loose it in the river).

„No weapons.", he reported when he had finished seachring me and had checked my bag. I realized that I had stopped breathing for some reason and took a deep breath in.

„Good.", he turned to talk to the Doctor again.

„You will give him your coat and your waistcoat and let him search you."

I could see the Doctor´s nervousness fading. He hated being treated like that, he hated having a gun pointed at him and he hated having his things taken from him by force. One could see the anger growing inside him.

 _The oncoming storm._

And I was right, when the tall one reached out his hand to take the Doctor´s coat and waistcoat he gave him a killer look. Really, if looks could kill the men would´ve dropped dead in a second. I kind of admired them for not running away.

„What are those creatures above? What happened to them?", he now asked.

„You´re not the one asking questions here." the giant said.

„You better come with us and answer our questions.", the beardy one said and the Doctor opened his mouth, but Beardy interrupted him again.

„Without further talking, please!", he added pointing his gun now at the doctor´s chest.

The Doctors wrenched his hand into fists and I could see that he was trembling

because he had to hold back his anger.

„Why are you always so big on the gun thing?" he said through gritted teeth.

„Shut up now and get moving!"

The young bloke went first, I followed him, then came Giant then the Doctor and then Beardy. We walked about 4 minutes until we reached the end of the corridor and (surprise!) another door.

The young guy unlocked it and led us through. As soon as I passed through the door my jaw dropped open. We were in a huge cave! So huge, that there was a whole village in it! They were lots of huts or little houses built from loam. When we past throught the „streets" we could see something like a market place (except there weren´t any sale booths) and people who were walking around with wheelbarrows to transport food and loam.

I turned my head to catch the Doctor´s eyes, but he didn´t notice. He was looking around with an expression of pure excitement and his anger seemed to have faded for now.

We walked through the village and reached the other end of the cave. It was impressive. You could see the front of a big house, really huge, and it seemed to be built inside the cave's wall! It looked like a guildhall.

This whole place was unbelievable and I could see the Doctor was pretty amazed too.

They led us inside the building and once we were inside I realized that I had been right, it was some kind of guildhall, since there were signs pointing to the „mayor's office" or the „department for goods" and the „department for food products".

We walked some corridors until we reached the „investigation area" as the sign on the wall told us.

 _Great._

The young guy opened one of the doors and held it open for me.

„In here, please.", he said.

Considering the gun pointed at me I followed his instrunction and entered the room.

The Doctor intended to follow me, but he was stopped by the giant´s arm on his shoulder.

„No.", he simply said.

The Doctor´s nervousness came back within a second and he licked his lips.

I took a step forward, but was stopped by the young one´s gun.

 _They´re going to seperate us._

The Doctor tried to get out of the giant´s grip. I felt panic rise inside me as I remembered the Doctor´s words.

 _Stay close to me._

I took another step forward, but this time the beardy one´s voice stopped me from getting out.

„Stay were you are!" The young guy still pointed his gun on me and intended to close the door.

The Doctor really started struggling now.

„Let go off me!"

I could see the men grabbing his arms and drag him away and before I even reached the door it was closed and locked.

„Doctor!"

I slammed my fist against the door.

„Great..."

I tried not to panic, but it didn´t work, a few tears escaped my eyes and I was shaking before I got myself together again and tried to calm down.

Looking around I found that the room only had a table and two chairs, nothing else.

 _Definetly made for questioning._

I really hoped they wouldn´t have too much questions.

I winced as the door flung open and my pulse was incedibly fast. The beardy one walked in.

„Hey, there.", he said „I´m Pete."

I didn´t say anything.

„Sit down, please."

„Where is he?"

He closed the door and smiled.

„He´s fine and unharmed. He´s in a room like this and will also be answering some questions. Or, at least, I hope he will. Oh, and unharmed except the fact we had to cuff him to his chair."

„What?!"

„Well, he kept struggeling."

„Don´t you dare.."  
„Sit. Down."

I decided to follow the instruction. His voice didn´t sound very patient and he was still carrying a gun.

He put a small recorder on the table and pressed a button.

„Let´s start then, shall we?", he smiled and it reminded of my grandpa in some strange way.

„We´ve found some passports in your bag.", he started.

„Is your full name Barbara Verena Wide?"

I nodded.

„Why is he calling you Ena, then?"

„It´s a short form of my second name, don´t really like the first one."

Pete gave me a smile.

„Age?"

I hesitated. I didn´t know if the Doctor hit the right year. Considering the way the city looked like we most likely ended up in the future. But how far in the future?

If I would tell my age and we were like 50 years or something in the future they would ask me how I could still look that young when I actually should be 80 or something. On the other hand time travel could be a normal routine by now. I hated not to know in which year we´ve landed! So, I decided to answer him honestly, because they´d find out anyway.

„23."

Pete chuckled.

„Okay. Well, your passport says your born in December 1991. So you should be 46 by now, turning 47."

 _2038 then._

„Yeah."

„Why you´re not 46?", he asked now with a curious grin on his face.

I sighed.

„Time travel."

He stared at me for a second.

„Wow.", he said." never met anyone who´s done it."

„It´s very interesting.", I replied.

„How are you doing it?"

He smiled when I just stared at him, not answering.

„You´re not doing yourself any good by not answering."

„Well, he´s got a time machine."

„What kind of time machine and where is it?"

Silence.

„I´m pretty sure he´ll tell us."

I giggled.

„Oh, I wouldn´t be, he can be very stubborn."

„I can imagine that. Well then, let´s go on."

„You´re from London?"

„Yes."

„Are you married?"

„No."

„Is the Doctor your partner?"

I almost laughed at this question.

„No."

„Are you related?"

„Also, no."

„What´s the doctors real name."

„I don´t know."

„you don´t know?", Pete laughed. „You´re time travelling with a man in a bow tie and a purple coat and you don´t even know his name?"

„No."

Pete stopped laughing when he realized that I was being serious.

„You just know him as ´the Doctor´?"

„Yep. That´s all, just´he Doctor´."

Pete gave me a weird look.

„You´re time travelling with a stranger?"  
„No, although I don´t know his name he´s still a friend and that´s all I need to know."

Pete just looked at me fort some time before he got back to the questioning again.

„Why are you here?"

„We wanted to spend a day in Atlanta, but the Doctor must have hit the wrong time line, so we ended up in a future Atlanta and almost got shot by the military, then we found your monsters up there and in the end ended up here with you."

Pete couldn´t stop a grin.

„You´re from the past, then? You said you´re 23, so it´s 2015 where you came from?"

„Yes."

„You don´t know why the military tried to shoot you?"

„No, we just were lucky enough to escape them."

Pete nodded and looked down on his hands.

„Does the military have your time machine?"

„No. It has an emergency programm and it disappeared."

„You don´t know where the machine is?"  
„No."

Pete sighed.

„Okay, how did you get in?"

„You took the sonic screwdriver from him.", I simply said.

„That thing with the green light at the end? I thought he was joking when he said it can open doors."

„No, it really can."

„Then why are you here.

„It was more like an accident. We landed on this broken bridge and the soldiers started shooting at us, then our ship disappeared and we pretty much didn´t have another choice but jumping."

„Oh, I see. The river brought you here that´s why your clothes were wet."

I gave a nod.

„Right then, do you have a job?"

„Medical secretary."

„Good, so you know how a blood withdrawal is done."

„Yes, why?"

„You already mentioned the things in the cages.", he said, „I will sent in a doctor who will take your blood to run some test on it."

I gave him a questioning look.

„Everyone who somehow manages to get in here has to go through the same procedure. First, we run blood test to make sure you´re no infected."

 _Infected. So, the Doctor was right when he suggested it could be a virus._

„If the blood tests are okay you will get a room where you can have a shower and rest until the mayor is ready to see you."

„The mayor?"

„Yes, the mayor. He will decide if you´re allowed to stay or not."

„If the blood test is not okay, or the mayor decides he doesn´t want us here, what happens then?"

Pete didn´t say anything, he just looked down on his gun and I nodded, a shiver running down my spine.

„I see."

 _Very assuring._

Then, it him me. If they were running blood tests on us they´d find out the Doctor was not human at all! His blood looked different, there was no way they wouldn´t notice that! How would they react to an alien?

I got even more nervous at those thoughts, but there wasn´t a thing I could do right now.

Pete stood up.

„I´ll send in doctor Rhymes now."

Then he walked out.

 _ **The Doctor**_

 **The Doctor looked up as the door opened.**

 **The two men from earlier walked in. The beardy one sat down on the chair in front of the Doctor and the dark skinned, tall one, closed the door, crossing the room to stand next to the aliens´ chair.**

„ **I am Pete, this is Duncan.", the beardy one said while putting a recorder on the table.**

„ **We´re going to ask you some questions."**

 **The Doctor just smiled at him. His hands were cuffed behind his back and fastened to the chair on which he was sitting. Also one of his braces had come undone while he was struggling.**

„ **What´s your name?"**

„ **I already told you my name.", the Doctor answered, still smiling. „Where´s my friend?"**

„ **She´s safe, we just finished her investigation. We´re going to ask you the same questions. So, again. What´s your name?"**

„ **I already told you." The time lords voice was dark and he gave Pete a hateful gaze.**

„ **No, you said that you´re the Doctor.", Pete said like he was talking to a little child to which he was explaining how talking works. „Also, you didn´t have any papers with you."**

 **The Doctor wondered why the psychic paper didn´t work on them they must have found it in his coat. Then he realized that he propably lost it in the river.**

„ **I propably lost them."**

„ **Okay, but I still don´t know your name."**

„ **People call me the Doctor that´s all you need to know.", he Doctor hissed.**

„ **We´ll see if that´s enough.", Pete said and asked the next question.**

„ **Age?"**

 **The Doctor laughed causing Pete to look irritated.**

„ **You wouldn´t believe me."**

 **Duncan sighed.**

„ **Just answer his question."**

„ **I´m over 1200 years old."**

 **Now, Pete and Duncan laughed too.**

„ **You like being funny?", Pete chuckled, „No, seriously now, what´s your age and birthdate?"**

 **The Doctor´s smile was back and he answered in a calm voice.**

„ **No, yes, seriously, I´m more than 1200 years old. One gets a bit confused about the exact age when one´s a time traveller."**

 **Pete just stared at him, so did Duncan.**

„ **You´re 1200 years old?", Duncan gasped, „but you don´t look a day older than 30."**

„ **Thanks.", the alien just smiled.**

 **Pete still stared at him.**

„ **Are you..?" For some reason he seemed not to be able to finish the question so the time lord did for him.**

„ **Human? No."**

 **This statement was followed by more staring.**

 **Pete was the first who got his voice back.**

„ **You´re an alien?"**

„ **Yes."**

 **Duncan looked like he´d seen a ghost.**

„ **A real, proper, alien?"**

„ **Yes, real and proper."**

 **They looked at each other and started laughung like two schoolboys who just found out a secret about one of their schoolmates.**

„ **That´s awesome! I´ve never seen an alien!"**

„ **Well, here I am."**

 **Pete suddenly went serious again.**

„ **Okay, we should finish this."**

„ **Your friend told me you´re not a couple or related, is that true?"  
You could still see the excitement in the mens eyes.**

„ **Yep."**

„ **Right, she also told me your time travel machine got lost when you were confronted with the soldiers."**

„ **Yeah, had a bit of trouble with them, they were trying to shoot us, so we jumped off that bridge and into the river. Then we landed here and found you and your village, nice village by the way, a village in a cave, lovely really. Oh, and of course we found the cages and the creatures within.", the Doctor stopped his babbling and got back to his dark voice again.**

„ **By the way, what are they? Humans, I know, but how did they get changed?"**

 **The excited expressions on the mens faces disappeared.**

„ **We don´t know.", was the short answer.**

„ **What kind of doctor are you and do you have a job?"**

„ **Sort of everything, I suppose. And no,I don´t have a real job."**

„ **You´re a doctor for everything?", Duncan asked.**

„ **Whatever.", Pete sighed.**

„ **I´ll explain the security procedure to you now."**

„ **Oh, nice you have security."**

 **The time lord earned an annyoed gaze from Pete.**

„ **We´ll run blood test on you, to see if you are infected. If not you´ll be going to see the mayor. If you are infected you et executed."**

„ **Oh, not nice."**

„ **The mayor will decide if you can stay."**

„ **What if he doesn´t want us to stay?"**

„ **You get executed."**

„ **Oh, really not nice."**

 **Pete stood up and came around the table.**

„ **So, who´s the mayor?", the Doctor asked while Pete was searching his pockets.**

„ **Just the mayor of our little community.", Duncan answered. „He´s a nice guy I don´t think he´ll let you get executed."**

„ **Well that´s good to hear."**

„ **Okay", Pete started when he had found what he was looking for „I´m gonna take the handcuffs off you if you promise not to kick me again."**

„ **Yeah, of course, sorry."**

 **Keeping his promise, the man opened the cuffs and the Doctor rubbed his wrists.**

„ **That´s much better, thank you."**

„ **I´m sorry if we frightened you that much, it´s part of the security procedure to make intrudors talk."**

„ **Do you have many introdurs.", the Docor asked, fastening his brace again and**

 **fixing his bowtie.**

„ **No, as you have seen the gates and doors are locked very carefully."**

„ **Are there more of those zombie-creatures then?"**

 **Pete didn´t answer and went back around to table to open the door.**

„ **We´ll send in Dr. Rhymes now, he´ll take your blood and then we´ll have to wait for the results.**

 **The Doctor jsut nodded and watched as both of the men left the room.**

 **Five minutes later the door opened again and an older man, around 60, walked in. His hair was grey and he had a litte potbelly.**

„ **Hello.", the man said, obviously excited to see him. „I´m doctor Andrew Rhymes."**

 **The Doctor smiled and shook the other doctor´s hand.**

„ **Pete and Duncan told me about you, oh, I´m so excited.", he babbled while opening the little box he was carrying.**

„ **You´re an alien."**

„ **Yes, I am."**

„ **You´re the Doctor, you are a time lord."**

 **The Doctor´s smile vanished for a second. He had erased himself from history only very few people still knew about his existence.**

 **Dr. Rhymes lowered his voice a bit before he continued talking.**

„ **I was working for Torchwood, 30 years ago." He said digging into his box.**

„ **Torchwood?"**

 **The Doctor´s smile was gone now.**

„ **Yes, but only because my father wanted me too. I left as soon as he had died. Went to university to study medicine. I hated Torchwood."**

 **And the smile came back again.**

„ **So, you know who I am?"**

 **Dr. Rhymes started to place everything he needed on the table.**

„ **Yes, of course and I think you just are what we needed."**

„ **I´m sorry?"**

 **Dr. Rhymes came around the table.**

„ **You saw those things in the cages didn´t you?"**

„ **Yes, we saw them."**

„ **Well, maybe you can help us to solve what happened to them? Please, roll up your sleeve."**

 **The Doctor did as he was told.**

„ **Pete said you don´t know how people get infected."**

„ **No, we don´t, but the mayor will explain everything to you later. If you´re not infected of course."**

 **The man fastened a tourniquet around the time lord´s upper arm.**

„ **You´ll be getting a room it the test results are fine, so you can take a shower and get some rest until the mayor is ready to see you."**

„ **Who is he? That mayor?"**

 **Rhymes laughed.**

„ **Well, he´s the mayor, our community needed someone to lead us and we chose him."**

„ **By the way, what is this place? Did you build it?"**

„ **No, I found it by accident. I think it´s an alien village.", he smiled, placing the needle above the Doctor´s skin.**

„ **Yeah, I heard about something like this before, but I can´t remember it."**

„ **If you remember it, will you tell me? I´d love to know."**

 **The Doctor smiled.  
„Yes, I will."**

 **The neddle went in.**

„ **Ouch!"**

„ **Sorry. I have never been really good at this. When I had my doctor´s surgery in Atlanta I always sent my medical secretaries to do blood withdrawals."**

 **He laughed a bit.**

 **The Doctor watched as his blood made it´s way into the tube.**

„ **My friend is a medical secritary."**

„ **Yeah, I met her.", Dr. Rhymes said while he unfastened the tourniquet. „Nice girl I´m sure she´s better at this.", he laughed.**

„ **Right, that´s it."**

 **The needle was pulled out and the Doctor was handed a hankerchief to wipe away the last blood drops.**

„ **Now, all we can to is wait for the results."**

„ **Patience has never been a strength of mine.", the Doctor said while pulling down his sleeve.**

„ **Oh, don´t worry the tests don´t have a long running time, I´ll have the result in under 30 minutes."**

„ **You´be got a laboratory down here?"**

 **The other doctor waved this aside. „It´s not worth mentioning. Well, then, see you later, doctor."**

 **He shook his hand again and left the room.**

„Congratulations.", Pete said as he strolled into the room. „You´re negative."

„Oh, good." I said.

He held the door open and gave me a sign to come with him.

„I´ll take you to your room."  
„I have a room?"

„Yes, both of you will get to take a shower and some sleep before meeting the mayor."

„Uhm.. okay." I stood up and walked out into the corridor. Pete closed the door and instructed me to follow him.

„Are we prisoners?"

Pete laughed.

„Well, kind of, I suppose. We need to know if we can really trust you before we let you walk around here on your own."

„And that´s what the mayor is going to decide? If he can trust us?"

„Yep."

We walked a few corridors and it was pretty hard for me to remember where we started from

„Here it is.", Pete said and led me into a small room. There was a bed on the opposite side to the door and a small wardrobe on the wall at the end of the bed. Also there was a chair in one corner and another door which propably led to a toilet.

„The door to the left is a bathroom. You can take a shower if you want and have some fresh clothes. I think size 6 is ok for you?"

I nodded. They had placed some clothes on the chair to my right.

„Okay, then, I´m leaving now. Please stay in here until we pick you up."

„Okay."

„Your friend will be here soon too."

With that he left the room.

Okay, so we are in a village beneath the earth, we saw zombies and almost got shot by the military which actually led us here. What was going on? Was this really a zombie apocalypse? Something like „The Walking Dead"?

And what were Pete and the others? Police? Also military? And who was that mayor? What were they going to do to us? I decided to talk this through with the Doctor.

Since my clothes were still wet and also full of dirt, I decided to accept the offer of taking a shower. I checked the clothes on the chair. It was a basic, slim jeans and a black hoodie, they also had given me underwear and socks.

I showered and dressed up before lying down on the bed. There was no window in this room (which would have been unnessecary anyway since we were beneath the earth) so I just stared at the ceiling.

Although I was terribly exhausted I couldn´t bring myself to sleep. There were too many things going on in my mind and also the Doctor wasn´t here.

After what seemed like an eternity the door opened again and Pete popped in to put some new clothes on the chair. He showed me a basic white shirt.

„Do you think this size is okay for your friend?"

I just nodded and Pete placed it on the chair as well before disappearing again.

Less then five minutes later the door opened again and the Doctor walked in. I jumped off the bed.

„Hello.", he said.

„Hey."

He took a few steps and hugged me before letting go again and turning me around.

„Are you alright?", he asked, searching for bruises.

„Yes, yes, I´m fine.", I said and stopped him from circling me around.

„You?"

„Yes, me too.", he replied.

„You look different.", he suddenly said.

„What? Oh, yes. I took a shower and they gave me fresh clothes."

I went to the chair.

„They brought some for you too." I gave him the clothes.

„I´m fine with my clothes."

„Doctor, they´re wet and full of dirt."

He looked down. His trousers were full of mud, his coat (which he got back from Pete) was covered in dirt and everything else was still wet.

„Yeah, you´re propably right.", he said. „Give me five minutes."

While he was in the bathroom I sat down on the edge of the bed.

I was a bit impatient, I needed to talk to him!

When he finally came out I just stared at him. The basic white shirt and the jeans looked totally strange on him. He placed his own clothes on the chair.

„What´s wrong?"

„You look weird."

„Thanks."

I laughed.

„No, not bad weird. It´s just... well, you look normal. Like you´re a normal young guy."

„I am none of those."

He grinned.

„I know."

„I don´t like it either.", he said, sitting down next to me.

„They´ve taken your blood?"

„Yep."

„Did they notice?"

„Yes, they did. But I told them before the blood test. There wasn´t any sense in lying."

I nodded.

„Dr. Rhymes said he´s been in Torchwood.", I said.

„Yeah, he recognized me. He asked me if I would help them with those creatures."

„Will you?"

He gave me a smile.

„I knew it. Any suggestions?"

The alien sighed.

„Not yet, but I seemed to be right about the virus theory. I´m sure they went down here to protect themselves. I think all we can do now is wait until we can see the mysterious mayor."

I nodded.

„I hate waiting."

„Waiting is boring.", the Doctor added to my statement.

„Yes.", I chuckled.

„I really hope he likes us.", I said a bit worried now.

„Duncan said he´s nice. Also the sonic screwdriver hasn´t found any sign of infection and the results of our bkood tests were fine. So, basically he doesn´t have a reason to execute us."

„Well, I hope so, I don´t want to get shot. We just escaped that."

The Doctor laughed.

„Yeah, we are, and now look at us, again in trouble. I wish Clara would be here."

„Yes, me too."

 _I miss her._

For a moment we fell silent. After some time the Doctor turned his head to look at me.

„You look tired.", he said gently.

„I am.", I confessed.

„You should get some sleep."

I suddenly realized that there was only one bed, but we were two people.

„What about you?"

He stood up and took his clothes from the chair so he could sit on it.

„Alien. I don´t need as much sleep as humans do. Now, sleep well."

„But.."

„Sleep well!"

I decided not to protest and lay down. A few minutes later I fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4 - The mayor

**+4+**

 **The mayor**

I woke up, because someone was gently pushing on my shoulder.

„Hey, wake up we´re going to meet the mayor."

Grudingly I opened my eyes and blinked aganist the light on the ceiling.

„Do you know the time?", I asked while sitting up.

„7 o´clock in the evening, you´ve slept about two hours."

Feeling a bit dizzy I got up to put on my shoes.

„Pete´s coming to pick us up in two minutes.", the Doctor said and in fact two

minutes later there was a knock at the door.

„Let´s go."

Pete was waiting for us outside. He greeted me with a smile and instructed us to follow him. And again we walked countless corridors and I soon lost orientation. The beardy man took us upstairs and into a corridor to the left where he stopped in front of the second door to the left.

 _Mayor´s office_

 _Arthur Mullet_

I read on the sign next to the door.

„Well, then let´s meet Mr. Mullet.", the Doctor mumbled, so only I could hear him.

Pete knocked at the door and almost immediatley someone behind it asked us to enter.

Pete signalized us to get in. The Doctor went first, I followed and Pete closed the door behind us.

It was quite a huge office. The walls were completely covered with bookshelfs, filled with folders and books. To our right was a sofa made of dark brown leather and to our leftt was a huge wooden desk. A man was leaning against the desk having a curious eye on us.

He was tall, almost as tall as Duncan, brown hair with grey strands in it, he was wearing only black clothes and had bright blue eyes.

His gaze was on the Doctor now.

„Hello, then.", he said in a rough voice. „Take a seat, please."

His smile made me nervous.

„No, thanks.", the Doctor said in his calm voice, „We´ve been sitting around for quite a while now."

If the situation wouldn´t have been that serious I would have grinned at him for this answer.

Mullet just stood there, arms folded, and smiled at us.

„Yes, I can imagine that, I´m sorry it took so long for me to get time for you."

„oh, we all have our business to do, don´t we?", the alien replied.

Mullet, again, just smiled.

„So, I heard you came across the gates and broke into our village?"

„It was more of an accident."

Mullet nodded.

„I heard you had a meeting with the military?"

„Yeah, wasn´t that nice."

„You don´t know why they were shooting at you?"

„We hoped you could explain it to us.", I answered the question.

Mullet shifted his weight a bit.

„I heard the recordings of the investigations. You´re time travellers?"

„Yes."

Mullet laughed.

„That´s amazing! So, they´ll make it one day? Real time machines?"

The Doctor just nodded.

„That´s cool! Okay, sorry I always get distracted."

The mayor now turned his gaze on the Doctor again, curiosity was written all over his face.

„I had a conversation with Dr. Rhymes.", he started, „you´re an alien, a Time Lord, to be precise. Is that true?"

„Yes."

„He also mentioned that you could propably be the man we just needed and help us with the problem above."

It was obvious that he was talking about that zombie creatures.

„So, here´s the deal: You´ll help us find out what made them like this and how we can protect ourselves against it and we´ll let you stay here without asking further questions. You´re ship is gone from what I´ve heard and I´m sure you don´t want to spend the night up there?"

The Doctor just stared at him.

„Was that a threat?"

„No, it´s an offer. If you don´t want to help us and stay that´s fine I won´t give an order to execute you, because that won´t be necessary. You wouldn´t survive with those things above anyway."

„Oh, that´s nice." it escaped my mouth, but the Doctor silenced me by rising his hand.

„Right, then. I´m going to help, but I need information.", the Doctor stated.

„What are they? Humans, I know, but what do you know about how they get turned?"

Mullet´s smile vanished and his expression got serious.

„To be honest we don´t know much about it. Dr. Rhymes said it could be an alien virus, but we haven´t found out how people get infected with it."

„Wait, then it´s not like in books or movies?", I asked. „They don´t infect you when you get bitten?"

„No. Some of us got hurt while fighting them but none of these people got infected."

„A virus that doesn´t seem to spread, interesting. Never heard of anything like that before.", the Doctor said. I could see the excitement in his eyes. There was something new to the Doctor and it needed solving.

„When did you first hear about it?"

„Well, about 5 years ago, I think."

„5 Years? Since then you´re down here?" I was shocked.

„Almost. Dr. Rhymes found this village and we installed the fences around it."

„You _found_ it?", I asked, „But who built it?"

„It´s an alien village.", the Doctor stated. „I´ve heard of places like this before, but I couldn´t remember it properly until right now."

He paused and started to walk around in the room.

„It´s a comubian village."

„Comubian?"

„Comubes. A very rare species that lives in the most far behind places of the universe. „

„But, if they live this isolated, what did they want here?", getting confused had turned into some kind of daily routine.

The Doctor snapped his finger and pointed right at me.

"Very good question! Answer?", he pointed to Mullet now.

„Maybe they crashed around here?", Mullet suggested.

„Possible, most likely even, yes, I think they´ve crashed."

„But where´s the ship then?"

„They have propably left it behind and went to find a place where they can live. They live in villages like this, also they are very good at not being seen. For a very long time my people thought they were just a legend, until one of the scientists found a village like this in a very far away corner of the universe. And they are very hospitaly guys, comubes."

Something didn´t seem to fit here.

„But if they crashed, why didn´t they just sent a distrass signal?"

„Again, very good question! The answer is pretty simple. Or better to be said the possible answers, since they are only suggestions. Theory number one: They couldn´t sent one just because of the fact their communication system broke during the crash. Theory number two: The signal wasn´t strong enough and also got debilitated by earth´s atmosphere. Theory number three, which I think is nonsense, bit still it´s a theory: They sent the signal, but noone came."

The Doctor was walking in circles now, gesturing around with his hands and a thoughtful expression on his face.

„But why would they get so far away from home?"

 _Another riddle that needs solving._

„And where are they now? Didn´t you see them when you found that village?", I turned and looked at the mayor now.

„No. When we came we searched everywhere for signs of living beings but we couldn´t find anything."

The Doctor sighed.

„It´s their virus.", he stated." A comubian virus. It propably killed them, but has different effects on humans, also this could be the reason why it doesn´t spread like other diseases."

„But it still doesn´t explain how anyone ever got infected.", I threw in.

„Also, if they are dead why didn´t they found any remains? Bones or something?"

The Time Lord looked at me.

„They´re aliens."

 _Of course._

„They don´t have bones! If they die anything will be rottened and nothing will be left!"

„Exactly. Their bodies basically consits of a jelly-like matter in various colors. They can change colour and they can change into transparence."

„So they can´t be seen.", Mullet pointed out.

„I wish I could to that.", I added admiringly.

„You´re far too loud anyone would notice you immediatly,"

„Thanks.", I hissed to the Doctor.

„Okay, so Ena already stated a very important point. Who was patient zero and how did he or she got infected?"

Thoughtfully the mayor stroked his chin before he replied:

„The first case I heard about was a little girl in Rainbow city, they were talking about in the news. Then there were also cases of animals with the same behaviour."

I thought the Doctor´s expression couldn´t get more curious, but I was wrong. As soon´as Mullet had mentioned the animals it was like someone had given him an injection with adrenaline.

„Animals? Where?"

„I don´t know exactly where, but they were trying to eat members of their own species like cows ate other cows and dogs ate other.."

„Yes, I get it!", the Doctor interrupted.

„Scientists all over the world tried to solve the riddle of that virus, but noone ever found something useful."

The Time Lord growled.

„I wish I could do an examination on my own!"

„You can."; Mullet said, „Or, at least, you an have a laboratory and a body of one of the creatures."

„How did you kill them?"

„You´ve got a laboratory?"

The Doctor and I asked at the same time and then looked at each other, grinning.

„Killing them is easy, it´s a cliché."

„So, its the head then.", I stated and Mullet nodded.

„Dr. Rhymes has a small laboratory down here since he was working on solving this himself. I don´t know if it´s what you´ll need, but it´s anything we´ve got."

„Can I use it?"

„I´m sure Dr. Rhymes won´t be against it and will also be givging you a hand, but I won´t ask him today. He´s been working all day and just went to get some sleep."

„He´s working on this every day, isn´t he?", I asked. „I mean on finding out more about that virus."

„Yes, he his. He´s exhausted now, so you´ll have to wait until tomorrow."

„"That´s fine..", the Doctor said with a smile.

„Good."  
The mayor got moving and went to the dor.

„You´re dismissed now, you should get some sleep before tomorrow comes, Dr. Rhymes prefers to get up very early in the mornings. Is there anything you need right now?"

„Yeah, my sonic screwdriver. Would be nice to get it back."

„And my bag.", I added.

Mullet nodded and opened the door, where Pete was still waiting outside.

„Bring them back to their room, give them their stuff back and make sure their clothes get washed and dried."

Pete just nodded and signalized us to follow him.

Before we went Mullet shook the Doctor´s hand.

„I´m glad you stranded here, I hope you can help us."

„I´ll be trying my best."

Back in the room I was sitting on the bed, watching the Doctor who was sitting on the chair, arms folded and legs crossed.

Clearly he was lost in his thoughts, but then he looked at me.

„Something´s missing.", he said, „I am missing something."

Because I didn´t know what to reply to this I remained silent.

Again his expression was thoughtfull he looked a bit stressed and had furrowed his brows. Looking at him I noticed how tired he looked.

„When did you get some sleep last time?"

„Mh?", he looked up, obviously he hadn´t quite heard the question because he was sunken in his thoughts.

„Sleep? When did you last get some sleep?", I repeated.

„I don´t know..", he rubbed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. „It´s been a while."

„Then lay down.", I jumped off the bad and gestured to him to lay down.

„No."

„Why not?" I was standing right in front of him now.

„Look at you, you look exhausted.", I said gently. „You´ll need to have a fresh mind tomorrow."

„I can´t sleep right now, there´s so much stuff in my head going on.."

I interrupted him.

„Which you´ll propably get some answers to tomorrow, so come on, get some sleep!"

„Will you stop annoying me sometime?"

„No.", I grinned.

He sighed.

„If it makes you happy!"

He pulled off his shoes and got up to undo his jeans.

Quickly I turned around.

„What are you doing?!"

„Getting ready for bed!"

„You could have warned me at least!"

„About what?"

„Getting undressed!"

I could hear the sheets rustling when he crawled into bed.

„I didn´t undress, I just got out of those jeans!"

I turned around again and found him in the bed.

„Come on, then. Time to sleep!"

„What?"

„Well, you´re human you need more sleep than I do and the two hours you had earlier aren´t barely enough!"

„There´s only one bed."

„Yes, with room for two!"

„Doctor..", I blushed and somehow almost had to laugh.

The expression on his face changed and suddenly he was blushing too, even more than I did, his face turned to a dark red.

„No! Not like that! I wasn´t... I didn´t mean..."

„I´m engaged!", I grinned.

„But, I didn´t... I´m a Time Lord!"

„You´ve got a snog box!"

„It is not a.. oh, don´t listen do Clara!", he yelled, turning even more reddish in the face.

„You invited me into your bed."

I couldn´t stop a little chuckle escaping from my mouth.

„But, not like that! I.. Oh. Shut up!"

Laughing I got to the bed and sat on the edge.

„Sorry, I couldn´t resist on teasing you a bit."

Kicking my shoes off I turned my head to look at him.

„It´s just so funny how you blush so easily on this subject"

He stucked out his tongue at me as an answer.

„Sorry.", I grinned again and got under the blankets, but trying to lay as far away from him as possible. I felt guilty sleeping in the same bed with a man who wasn´t my fianceé, even if this one here was an alien, but still it felt weird. But on the other hand I really didn´t want to sleep on the floor.

„But I´m not doing cuddling!", I stated and gave him a serious look.

„I don´t need cuddling, I am an adult, I´m 1200 years old!", he said defiant and gave me an offended look.

I laughed.

„Good night, Doctor."

„Good night, Ena."


	5. Chapter 5 - Neil

**+5+**

 **Neil**

I woke up, because of a crashing sound in the room. With a gasp I shot up and sat upright in the bed. The room was dark and I turned on the light on my nightable, finding the doctor on the floor, halfway in his trousers.

„Ouch!", he struggled to get into his trousers properly.

„Sorry about the noise."

„Why didn´t you turn on the lights?"

„Didn´t want to wake you. Dr. Rhymes has already been here and told me he´s ready."

„I didn´t even notice that."

„Well, you slept like a log.", he smiled, getting into his shoes.

„Until now, sorry about that again."

„It´s okay.", I said and got out of the bed and right into the bathroom. After using the toilet I washed my hands and my face and then got back into the room.

The Doctor was standing by the door, waiting for me.

„Okay, ready.", I said when I was done with putting my shoes on.

„I don´t want you to come with me.", the Time Lord suddenly stated. I wanted to protest, but he raised his hand and I stayed silent.

„I want you to look around a bit. Take a walk in the village and see if you find anything unusual."

„You mean except the fact we´re having a zombie apocalypse and that this town is beneath the earth?"

„Exactly!"

„Okay..."

 _You told me to stay with you and not explore things on my own._

„I know what I told you.", he said like he could read my mind.

 _Oh._

„Stop doing that!"

„Then stop thinking so loud! Listen, there´s something I´m missing, just go and have a look around okay?"

„Okay."

„Good.", he smiled.

As we walked through the corridors to get out of the guildhall I couldn´t help to admire the Doctor for his sense of orientation.

I´d never find a way out of this labyrinth of corridors and doors without him or

Pete or Duncan.

A few moments later we were standing on the frontstairs.

„Right then, see you later.", the Doctor waved and went off to the left.

„Yeah."

 _Okay, where do I start?_

I decided to turn right and walk a big circle alongside the cave´s walls and then explore the inside of the village later.

As soon as I walked away from the stairs I heard a voice behind be.

„Hey!"

It was the young boy who had been with Pete and Duncan, he came down the stairs.

„Hi.", I simply said.

„Do you want me to show you ´round?"

 _I´d rather be on my own._

„I´m Neil.", he said with a smile and showed his perfect white teeth.

„Ena. And yes, that would be nice!", I smiled.

I feared it would cause distrust if I´d turned down his offer.

„Good!"

He started walking and I just walked beside him.

„It´s called _Esperanza._ "

The confusion on my face made him laugh.

„The village.", he added.

„Oh", I said, „The spanish word for hope."

A surprised look appeared on his face.

„Do you speak it?"

„Oh, no. I learned it in school, but that was seven years ago! Or at least for me it was seven years, from here it would be twentytwo. Hell, that´s almost my age!"

I stopped babbling when I met Neil´s curious gaze.

„So, it´s true what Pete said? You´re time travellers?"

„Yes, we are."

He gestured wildely with his hands, showing off. his excitement.

„That´s so cool! So you´ve been in the past too?"

„Yes."

„Wow! That must be so interesting!"

„Yes, it is.", I smiled.

„What was the best thing you´ve seen yet?", he asked.

„Uhm... I don´t really know..", I said, „All of it was great. But, if I had to choose one I know what I´d choose."

„And what´s that?"

„Oh, it will bore you.", I laughed. „It wasn´t even in space, it was here on earth and it was a very normal thing."

„I still want to hear it.", he gave me an assuring smile.

„He took me to a concert of _Queen_ at the Wembley Stadium. I was born in 1991, so I had no chance in seeing them live with Freddie Mercury as the lead singer."

„I love _Queen._ ", Neil stated. „I found some old CD`s in one of the houses that were left behind when all this started. Unfortunately, we have to be very economical with electricity down here, so I´m not allowed to use a CD player anymore."

He added with a sad smile: „I miss music."

„I see."

We walked through the little streets of the village and now and then I could see some faces staring through the windows of the cabins. Families, children and their parents, were watching us while we took a walk. The news of the arrival of two strangers must have spread here very fast.

I had to think of what Mullet said and the fact that these people lived here for more or less five years.

„How old are you, Neil?", I asked.

„I´m twenty.", came the quick answer.

„You look younger."

„So do you."

I laughed.

„Yeah, most people don´t give me twentythree years."

„It will be good fou you when you´re older.", he said with a wink.

„Yes, definitely!"

Neil suddenly stopped infront of a house. From what I had seen so far there was nothing unsual about this village, well, considered the circumstances.

The fact that I didn´t really know what I was actually looking for didn´t make things any easier.

The building we were standing in front of was painted white with a big red cross above the front door.

„Is that Dr. Rhymes´ doctor´s office?"

Neil nodded, making his blonde curls jump with the movement.

„He also has his laboratory inside it, where he is now, together with your friend. He tried for so long to find out anyhting about that virus. People everywhere were studying on it, but noone ever found out enough to tell what it actually is and how it turns people."

„Why do you keep some of them in those cages?"

I was curious about that fact.

„It´s a warning. They´re not completely stupid. They can climb up things, open doors and avoid traps. We sent up patrols every two hours in case one of them managed to get over the fence."

He started walking again and I followed.

„Then there is some trace of intelligence left."

„Yes."

For a while we just kept walking in silence. I had noticed that the light that was coming from the ceiling wasn´t electric. The people here had build columns made of loam with a platform on their end and ladders to get up. On the platforms themselves they had constructed litte stikes and had inflamed them. There were about twenty of those appliances to light up the whole cave.

 _Huge torches!_

The cave itself was very high and of brown stone, almost like the colour of copper.

Neil stopped again in front of...

„A well!"

„Yes."

„So, this is where you get your water from."

„Exactly. It´s the reason we can still have a shower.", Neil laughed.

„Dr. Rhymes installed it.", he continued. „There´s lots of ground water beneath our feet."

„So, you get your water from here, but what about food?"

„Well, most of it comes from hunting. Deer, wild pigs, rabbits, everyhting you can find in a forest. But it´s dangerous because of the infected people. In the centre of the city, where the military is, you can buy food. For example if you give them some of your weapons or if you find something useful and bring it to them they will give you food cards and give you access to the city´s centre. They´ve got special locations where you can swap the cards into food. We try to avoid that option, the military isn´t very friendly these days."

„Why did they shoot at us?"

„Anyone who gets inside the centre has to be accompanied by a member of the military. That´s the sign for the others that you are allowed to be there. Everyone knows that rule. So, if you´re not with a militaryman it means you´re here without permission. „

 _That´s why._

„They thought we might be infected."

„Exactly."

„Okay, I see."

 _Thank god I have a save home without zombies._

„It must be hard."

„Yes." Neil turned his gaze away from me, shadows crossing his face.

A tickle on my neck made me shiver and I turned my head.

„What´s wrong?"

I looked around, a bit confused.

 _Something touched me._

„Nothing, I just thought... I thought something touched me."

„Maybe it was just a breeze. Happens sometimes, because of the crevices in the cave."

 _No, that hasn´t been a breeze._

„Yes, maybe."

I turned my head again, but there was nothing to be seen.

„Actually, there isn´t much more I can show you. It´s a really small community as you´ve seen."

Neil sat down on a bench a few meters from the well, so we were looking to the marketplace-like space in the middle of the village.

He implied me to sit next zu him and I followed his request. There were children running around playing football and laughing. We watched them for a while.

 _What must it be like to grow up like this?_

„Do they know what it´s like up there?", I asked without looking at Neil, keeping my gaze on the children.

„You mean if they know the sunlight or the moonlight and stuff like that?"

„Yes."

„Yes, they do. We sometimes take them with us when we´re hunting. They need to learn it, also we don´t want them to waste away down here. To know what´s it like up there keeps them hoping and hoping keeps them fighting and..."

„Fighting keeps them alive.", I finished his sentence.

„Yes. Have you ever been fighting?"

„No, not like that."

I realized that this was a future that actually was going to happen and that I would still be alive when it would happen. If I survived this adventure, of course.

 _What if I die here?_

„Your friend...", Neil distracted me from my thoughts „the Doctor.. do you.."

He looked at me, worried. His hands clenched the edge of the bench. I tried to give him an assuring look.

„Yes?"

„Do you think, if he doesn´t find out what the virus actually is.. will he leave again?"

„He will find out.", I said and found that I was surprised about the conviction in my voice.

 _I believe in him._

„And he won´t leave until he will."

„But, if he does leave... do you think...do you think he´d take me with him? I mean with you, both of you."

That question sort of took me surprise and didn´t really know how to answer it, so all I got out was:

„I´ll ask him."

He nodded and again we stayed silent for a while. Neil wanted to get away from all this and I really couldn´t blame him. It was what I wanted too. The Doctor would never leave until he had solved this, even if he had the TARDIS. All I could do now was hoping that she´d come back and the Doctor would be fast in solving.

„Listen", I looked into Neil´s eyes, „What I said before.. that he´ll fid out. I propably rushed into that answer. I can´t make any promises, but one: he´ll try his very best." I took a deep breath before I continued "Also, he´s not really the one who gives up that easy that´s for sure, so don´t worry about that. He´ll do everyhting to help you, but that doesn´t necessarily mean he´ll succeed."

Neil only gave me a nod.

Then there was the touch again, this time on my upper arm. My head turned quickly, but again there was nothing.

„You´re okay?"

„Yes, I think it was just some kind of insect."

Neil suddenly stood up.

From the right, where the guildhall was, I could see a group of men heading towards us, I recognized two of them: Pete and Duncan.

„It´s time for the patrol.", Neil said, „It´s safer for you to stay down here. There´s a library in the guildhall if you want to kill some time while waiting for the Doctor."

I gave him a smile.

„Okay, thank you for showing me around."

„You´re welcome."

He jogged around the well and to the small group that was heading to the exit.

Pete waved at me while walking past. I stood up and decided to look around again, this time alone, but I couldn´t find anything, so I decided to go back to the guildhall and find that library.


	6. Chapter 6 - In the night

**+6+ In the night**

The fireplace next to me flickered and crackled in a relaxing way and I smiled as I turned to the next page of the book I was holding.

Karl May´s _Winnetou_.

Before I had been heading to the library I went to our room where Pete had left some bread for us and ate a bit of it.

It had taken me only a few minutes to find the small library at the end of an corridor in the guildhall. It was very cosy and very beautiful with its huge shelves and the red carpet and old armchairs right in front of the fireplace.

But the relaxing mood was over when I heard the very familiar voice of my alien friend.

„Ena! Look what I´ve got back!", he cheered.

I looked up and saw the Doctor coming in, slightly running. I didn´t have any idea how much time had past, but it must have been some time in the afternoon. He stopped next to my armchair and showed me his sonic screwdriver, looking down on me with a smile. I put the book on the table which was standing between the two armchairs.

„Oh, good! Any news?"

His smile faded.

 _Not good._

The Time Lord went around the table and sat down on the second armchair, elbow on his knees and his chin resting on his palm.

„Unfortunately not. Dr. Rhymes´ lab is remarkable, considering the circumstances, but he doesn´t have the right technology. I still wasn´t able to decode the virus, we´re stuck, not one step further."

 _Definetly not good at all._

He got an unhappy expression on his face. The TARDIS was still gone god-knows-where-to, we almost got shot yesterday and found zombie-creatures who got turned by a virus, but nobody seems to know anything about it. And now not even him had been able to decode the virus, because he didn´t have the right equipment! He was very frustrated and I knew it was going to drive him mad.

„Is there nothing we can do?"

The Doctor shifted and leaned back in his armchair, folding his arms.

„Rhymes mentioned a lab in the centre of Atlanta, it´s abandonnend but still working. There´s only one problem."

„Which is?"

„Although it´s not used anymore it´s property of the military and very close to their base."

„Oh."

The Doctor nodded when he saw that I had understood the problem.

„They won´t let us in, I suppose?"

„No."

„So, what do we do?", I asked, knowing the Doctor had already worked out a plan.

He leaned forward again, a smile formed on his face.

„Are you ready for some plan?"

„Sure!"

„Pete and Duncan will take us to the border and help us to get inside the centre where we will meet a friend of theirs. He will smuggle us inside the lab."

„Aren´t Pete and Duncan coming with us?"

„They said it´s too dangerous. I can´t blame them, you saw the military back then on that bridge, it won´t take them too long to shoot us."

„So, you are suggesting that we get to the borders, crossing them without permission with lots of soldiers around, ready to shoot anyone who´s not allowed to be in, and then meet a stranger who ought smuggle us into the lab, which is also military property, or maybe he´s a psycho and will kill us straight away?!"

„Yep!"

„Well, sounds like a good plan!"

He grinned at me.

„My plans are always good, I´m the king of plans!"

„You´re more like the king of improvisation when it comes to making a plan!"

„Yes, but I´m good at it!", he protested and I had to laugh at his facial expression.

„Stop laughing at me!"

„Sorry. When are we leaving?"

„Sometime after midnight, we´ve got a better chance of not getting caught when it´s dark."

I nodded.

For a while both of us just sat there, staring into the fire. Then I remebered what I was doing in the morning.

„I haven´t found anything."

He turned his gaze to me.

„Sorry?"

„In the village. You told me to look around."

„Oh, yes! Yeah, of yourse, okay, that´s alright, I wasn´t really expecting you to find something."

„Neil, the young blonde guy, was with me, he told me the zombies can avoid traps and stuff like that. Open doors and climbing, you know?"

He simply nodded, staring into the flame again.

„Does that mean there´s some of their awareness left, some intelligence?"

„Some kind of intelligence, I think, yes, but I´m not sure about the awareness part. I don´t think they´re actually aware of what they are and who they´ve been before."

I nodded.

„That´s good in a way, I think."

„Yes, it propably is.", the Doctor said with a sad smile.

The light of the fire caressed his face and added some more light to his already shining eyes. I could see why he sometimes got chased by so many girls when we were travelling.

He was lost in his thoughts and I decided just to leave him and picked up my book again, so we sat and waited for the night to come.

It was only a few minutes after midnight when the Doctor got ready to meet me, Duncan and Pete outside the guildhall. Duncan had spent the last two hours with explaining me the small gun he had given me and showed me how to shoot with it (of course two hours wasn´t enough to teach me how to shoot properly, but at least I knew now how to hold still and not get thrown back by the kickback).

„Are you ready?", Duncan asked when The Doctor had reached us.

„Yes."

„Alright, then, let´s go."

The Doctor and I had left the library about four hours ago, when Arthur Mullet asked us to have dinner with him, Pete and Duncan to talk over the plan one last time. Some of the men had been succesful in hunting and had brought a deer and two wildpigs, a very lucky day for the villagers.

„Are you sure you really want to do this?", Mullet asked while eating.

The five of us were sitting on a small table in Mullet´s office.

„Yes.", the Doctor, who was sitting to Mullet´s right, answered. „I´ve got to find out what´s wrong with that virus, why it doesn´t spread and where it came from, I need to know what exactly it is doing to human bodies and maybe I can even find out how to cure it or at least how to preserve people

from turning."

„Well, it´s your decision if you want to go, but I´ll tell you again: this is a very dangerous mission you´re planning.", Mullet said.

„It could cost you your life.", Pete added.

„Yes, I´m well aware of that, but I´m still going to do it, sometimes risks must be taken. Aslo, I kind of have a talent of getting out alive of this kind of situations.", the alien grinned.

„You mean you, or we, just were extremely lucky every single time.", I mocked him.

The Doctor, to my left, protested:

„No, it´s my incredibly clever plans that keep us alive!"

„Your clever improvisations you mean!"

„Yes! I´m good at improvising, actually I work the best while improvising!"

I grinned.

„Okay, this point goes to you, I have to agree with that."

Pete just grinned at our little teasing.

„Okay, so if we really are doing this... I´ve got a car and Pete and I will take you to the border and show you how to cross it without being seen. On the other side you will meet a friend of ours, Bill, he will help you get inside the lab . He´s very good at smuggling, trust me, once he.."

„Duncan, just go on with the plan.", Pete interrupted him.

„Yeah, sorry. So, Bill will help you get inside, the rest is to you, Doctor. You will find a fully functioning, but abandonnend lab where you can examine the lab samples you and Dr. Rhymes took. It´s absoluteley neccesary that the military won´t notice anything, I suggest it´s best if you use one of the lab rooms in the cellar, it´s the best chance not to get caught. If they see you, they´ll shoot you, or even worse, they´ll capture you and they´ll try to find out who you´re working for."

„That sounds an awful lot like torture...", I said, a bit (a big bit) worried.

„Oh, yes, they love torturing people.", Pete added.

„How nice.", the Doctor stated.

„Okay, you will need something to defend yourselves.", Mullet threw in. „Can you use a gun?"

„No.", both of us said at the same time.

„Well, I actually can use one", the Doctor said „but I won´t. I hate gins, guns are evil, actually I hate every kind of weapon."

„Well, you still might one. You´ve seen what´s out there. It´s impossible to teach you proper shooting in this short time, but I could teach you some basics, like how to unlick it and stuff..", Duncan said.

„We´re not going to shoot anyone!", the Time Lord insisted.

„Doctor, trust us, you´ll really need one.", Mullet said, „just because there is a border it doesn´t mean infected people can´t get into the centre. If they´re attacking you will have no other chance than shooting them! They´re fast and very, very strong!"

„You said the sonic didn´t show any lifesigns, so basically they are already dead.", I suggested.

The Doctor just stared at me.

„And the military", Pete threw in, „they will nit hesistate in shooting you, and what will you do when it´s him or you, letting him shoot you?"

„We will not kill a living being.", the Doctor growled.

Mullet sighed.

„Okay, fine, you´d rather die than shooting him, okay, I don´t really understand, but fine." He turned his body so that he could face the Doctor properly. „But what will you do, when the coice is between a soldier´s life and hers.", he was pointing at me. „Don´t you want her to be able to protect herself?"

The Doctor just stared at him for a moment, then he turned his head and his green eyes met mine. He looked utterly concerned.

„I´ve been thinking anyway.", he said in a soft, very quiet voice.

I knew exactly what he would be saying next.

„Maybe it´s best if you stay here."

 _Bingo!_

„No way!", I said, „this plan is insane and I´m not going to let you do it alone!"

„Ena, this is very dangerous!"

„I know! And I´m afraid, yes I confess that, but still I´m not going to let you do this alone!"

The Doctor sighed in frustration.

„There is no use in pulling an argument, Doctor.", I said, now also in a quiet tone, „I´m coming with you, whether you like it or not."

Again, he sighed. Then he turned to Duncan.

„Alright, give her that gun."


	7. Chapter 7 - Off to the city

**+7+ Off to the centre**

When we climed through the trap door again we were hit by warm, dry summer air. I was quite thankful for that since I was wearing my dress again (Pete had given us back our normal clothes after the dinner) and my legs and arms were naked and I didn´t wear any socks in my Converse. The Doctor also was back in his normal clothes and I wondered how he managed not to sweat in his purple coat.

„Can I ask you something?", I said while we were walking behind Pete and Duncan, heading for the gates.

„Sure."

„It´s something about you being alien."

He gave a me an amused look.

„Don´t hold yourself back."

„What´s your body temperature?"

„What?"

„Well, everytime you hug me or hold my hand your skin seem pretty cold and now your wearing your coat and you´re not sweating although it´s still very hot."

He chuckled.

„You´re interested in Time Lord anatomy, then?", he asked while we were passing the cages.

„Yeah."

„Well, you´re right my body temperature is way low than yours. A Time Lord´s body temperature is usually around 15 degress Celius."

„Wow, that´s bloody cold compared to us."

He laughed.

„Yes, well it can drop to below-freezing temperatures.", he explained while we were walking through the first gate.

„Now you´re kidding me!"

„No, not at all. Time Lords can slip into a healing coma when badly injured, but not badly enough they would need to regenerate. It causes the body temperature to fall very rapidly."

„A healing coma?"

„Yes, it´s actually good you asked me this questions you might need to know about it one day."

Pete and Duncan were now opening the second gate.

„When in a healing coma a Time Lord appears to be dead.", the Doctor carried on his explaining. „As I already told you the body temperature will fall way far below zero, also one heart will stop beating."

I looked at him shocked.

„But the other one carries on, there will be heart beat around every 10 seconds."

„And it increases the speed of healing wounds?"

„Yes, although it works best if the Time Lord is near or inside his TARDIS."

„Did you use it once?"

„Yes, I did. People thought I was dead, so let´s just hope you´re around when it happens again.", he winked at me.

„Let´s just hope it won´t need to happen again.", I replied.

At that he just smiled at me.

As we got further into the woods I pulled my mobile phone out of my back and put it on. Arthur Mullet had allowed me to charge it in the guildhall since we would need it to call them when we were done to pick us up again.

After entering my pin I noticed that my boyfriend wrote me a message.

 _Where are you? Are you still with the Doctor? Please answer, so I know that you´re fine._

The Doctor noticed I was holding my phone and writing something back.

„Is it Dillon? I bet he´s worried."

„Yes, he is."

„As soon as I´ve got the TARDIS back we can pick him up."

„No, this is too dangerous."

The Doctor raised an (barely existing) eyebrow at me.

„You´re here, too."

„Yes, but we don´t have the TARDIS, so you can´t take me back."

„You could have stayed in the village."

„You might need me."

He just nodded at that. „Yeah, propably. Anyway, when we´ve got the TARDIS back I will drop you on the day we left, he won´t even notice you´ve been gone for long."

I laughed.

„The priorities of a time machine."

 _Don´t worry_ I wrote _I´m fine, I´ll be back soon, I promise. The Doctor´s looking out for me. I love you._

Sent.

„It isn´t far right now, we´ll soon reach the street!", Pete called over his shoulder. We were heading to a small slope right now.

My phone vibrated in my bag.

 _Okay, please take care. And tell him, if something happens to you I will find him! I love you too._

I grinned.

When we had reached the slop Pete lead us to a small path down. Through the wood we could see the street.

„Be careful, the ground here is a bit slippery."

Carfully we went down the path and trod the street. A few meters from us I could see a pick-up truck, black and in a pretty good condition.

As we got closer I could see that it was a _Dodge Ram._

„Nice car.", the Doctor commented and Duncan smiled brightly.

„Thanks."

„This will save us a lot of time.", Pete said „If we´d walked it would take us 6 hours to get to the centre."

Suddenly there was a crack in the woods and all of us turned our heads.

Duncan had already pulled out his gun, aiming in the direction the noise came from. Pete pulled me and the Doctor behind him before also drawed his weapon.

„May be one of the creatures.", he whispered to us.

We tensed when there was another crack, and then someone shouting.

„Pete, Duncan! Please don´t shoot, it´s me!"

The shape of Dr. Rhymes came out of the shadows of the forest, hands pulled up in a pacificatory way.

„I´m sorry, I didn´t want to alarm you.", he gasped. He´d obviously been running.

Pete and Duncan immediatly lowered their guns.

„What are you doing here?!", Pete snapped. „Mullet said it´s too dangerous, we need you here you´re the only doctor we have!"

„Well, thanks.", I heard the Doctor murmur.

„I know what he said.", Rhymes said while walking towards us, „But I have to come with the Doctor, I need to know about that virus!"

„Andrew, go back!"

„No, Pete, I´ve been trying to decode this virus for 5 years now! I want to be there when it finally happens!"

Pete sighed.

„Alright, do you have your gun?"

„Of course!"

„Well, then. Get in the car everyone!"

Duncan´s driving skills were debatable. Although the streets were merely empty, he was racing like a maniac and kind of driving in wiggly lines. We got thrown from side to side which meant I got hit from both side, sitting in the middle of both doctors. I was pretty sure we´d get some nice bruises from this car ride.

As we got closer to the centre Duncan left the main street and drove the car to a smaller one. Once we had passed a town sign (Panthersville _)_ Duncan turned off the lights on his car. From what we could see of the town it was abanondend. Also, there was lots of ruins, buildings have been destroyed.

„ milesWhat happened here?", the Doctor asked.

„As soon as most of the town had been evacuated the government and the military decided to throw bombs onto it.", Dr. Rhymes said.

„What?!"

„Well, infected people had been everywhere, killing other people, noone knew if they´d turn too. The government thought they´d destroy the ´source of fire´by killing off all the infected people. Of course there were still some of them who ´survived´."

„They threw a bomb onto a city, although there were still normal people around here?", I asked in shock.

„Yes."  
„Humans.", the Doctor hissed, „give them power and they think they´re allowed and excused to do everything."

Duncan stopped the car behind the ruins of a house.

„This is as far as we can go by car, if I´d drive further they´s see us. The border is right in front of us."

Looking out of the window we could see a huge gate made of metal, also there were look-outs on both sides of the gate and barbed wire to keep intrudors from climbing above the gate. To both sides of the gate were houses, wall to wall, so there wasn´t any fence or wall nedded to keep people from entering the closed off zone. The doors and windows had been bricked. On both look outs were soldiers standing, each one carrying a floodlight to lighten up the area around the gate.

„Alright, we have to walk the rest. Centre and the lab are still around 9 miles away.", Pete said.

„9 miles!?", I shrieked.

„Yes. Under normal circumstances it would take you around 3 hours to get there, but with the military around everywhere I think it will take you at least 24 hours."

Speechless I just stared at him. Of course I wasn´t used to walks as long as this.

„Right then, get out of the car."

„How do we get in there?", I asked when everyone was out, carefully paying attention to stay hidden behind the house.

„We´ll take you to one of the houses to the left of the gate. The military only has guards on top of the gates, but never inside the houses that´s their weak point. There´s a house were we can get through the cellar. Resistance fighters once build a tunnel into it to get into the city."

„There´s a resistance?", the Doctor asked.

„Yes, they think the government should rather invest into researches about the virus than into vehicles for the military so they can shoot people from a panzer."

„They´ve got panzers?", I asked.

„Yes, of course they are the military."

 _Great._

„Okay.", Pete said, „is everyone alright."

„Ready as ever.", the Doctor stated, Rhymes and I just nodded.

„You can still go back.", the Doctor whispered to me.

„No, I´m staying with you."

„Alright.", Pete said. „Now, follow me, and stay away from that floodlight!"

Pete went around the house so we were at the backside of it, in the garden, but still hidden ftom the views of the soldiers.

He pointed to the ruins of another house around 100 meters away from us and closer to the border.

„When I say ´run´you had to this house over there and hide inside the ruins, okay?"

Everyone nodded. I could feel my body tensing and my heartbeat has never been this fast.

When the floodlights swang to the opposite direction we were in Pete gave the signal.

„Run!"

All of us sprinted towards the ruins. The Doctor pulled me along with him, so I had to increase my speed. When we reached the ruins I was pulled behind a wall and I heard Pete almost whispering.

„All fo you stay down!"

Above my head I could see the floodlight shining onto the walls above us were once had been another floor of the house.

„Do you think they have seen us?", Rhymes panted, but the Doctor layed a finger on his lips.

„Ssh!"

„What´s wrong?", I whispered.

„Ssh!"

Then it hit me.

 _Time Lord. He can hear them!"_

„One of them noticed something,", he then said, „But he´s not sure if he´d just imagined it. Best if we wait a few minutes before we go on."

Pete nodded.

„You have remarkable senses.", Dr. Rhymes said admiringly.

„Time Lord senses are much further developped than human senses."

The floodlight stayed on the ruins for a good 5 minutes before it swang away again.

„Now, follow me!"

Pete started to run and we followed close behind, he lead us alongside the border and then into another ruin. Again we hid behind the walls.

„Alright, here we are.", Pete said, moving away a big piece of wreckage together with Duncan to reveil a hatch.

„So, this is your secret tunnel?", the Doctor asked.

„Yes." Pete pulled the hach open.

„I´ll go first, then you lot and Duncan will be the last." with that he climbed into the small tunnel behind the hatch. Dr. Rhymes followed him.

„What´s wrong?", the Doctor asked when he saw my face.

„Claustrophobia."

„It´s okay, I´m right behind behind you. All you have to do is breath calmly."

I nodded and made my way into the small tunnel. It smelled of earth and dust and it was _very_ narrow. Pete and Dr. Rhymes lead the way and I followed them trying to ignore the oppressive feeling in my chest. It was getting hard to breath.

„Calmly.", the Doctor said behind me „and regularly."

I tried to do what he´d told me, but I could feel the panic rising as we continued our way and the tunnel got even more tight, now the walls were so close my legs, arms and clothes touched them and got dirty with earth. MY breathing increased and soon turned into pantings.

„Hey, you´re doing fine, don´t let the panic get to you!", I heard the Doctor´s voice behind me, but I couldn´t really pay attention to what he was saying.

„Everything alright?", Pete called back.

„She´ll be fine!", Duncan answered, „Don´t worry, we´re almost through!"

By the end of the tunnel we could see a small hole and Pete climbed through it. Dr. Rhymes struggled with getting thorugh, because it was so tiny.

I hesistated.

„You can do this.", the Doctor said reassuringly. „Just try to stay calm."

Pete reached in to help me and I started to make my way through the hole.

It was hard to move in the last bit of the tunnel so I had to crawl like Pete and Dr. Rhymes did and it felt like hell. I could feel the walls touching my body everywhere and before I was halfway through the panic kicked in.

I couldn´t really breathe anymore and my vision got blurred from tears.

 _Just go on, it´s just a stupid tunnel and you´re almost out!_

I could feel my muscels move and then a hand, pulling me out.

„There you are.", Pete said in a friendly tone and handed me over to Dr. Rhymes to help the Doctor.

„It´s okay, sit down, try to calm down.", Dr. Rhymes said, helping me sit down on the floor.

„Thanks."

„This happened to me too the first few times I came through here.", Pete said, helping the Doctor climb out of the hole. „Nothing to be embarrased about."

Duncan cam out close behind.

„You´re alright?", the Doctor asked, kneeling down in front of me.  
„Yes, fine, thanks."

He squeezed my hand and gave me a smile.

„So, here we are then.", Pete said. „Welcome to Atlanta!"


	8. Chapter 8 - Bill

**+8+ - Bill**

„Alright, let´s go upstairs.". Pete said, putting on a torch and leading the way to the stairs.

My breathing had calmed down and I stood up to follow the others.

„We will meet Bill, our friend upstairs. From then on you´ll have to rely on him, Pete and I will head back to the village.", Duncan said and opened the door at the end of the stairs.

The Doctor nodded to him and followed him through the door.

„Are you sure you want to stay with him?", Pete asked. At first I didn´t realize that he was talking to me, I thought he´d spoken to Dr. Rhymes.

„We can still take you back with us, you know? I think he´d be happier if you´d be back in the village."

„I won´t leave him.", I said with a smile.

Pete just nodded and walked on. We entered a floor. The wallpaper had loosened and the floor was dirty and full of dust. There were still pictures on the walls, covered in dust and almost bleached out.

A family was shown on them, two kids and a nice looking couple, all with blonde hair.

 _They´re most likely dead._

„Don´t let it get to you too much.", Dr. Rhymes said when he saw my face.

„I know it´s hard, but it gets only in the way when it comes to surviving."

I just nodded and our group left the floor and entered a living room. The room looked like the family had never left. Well, except the fact that the house was slowly rotting. Everyhting was still in its place. The cupboards, the shelf with the TV on it and the two green sofas. On one of the sofas sat a man. He looked a bit like Pete, the same blue eyes and a beard, only his face was a bit younger. He wore jeans and a white shirt and he held a shogtun. To his right was a table with an old oil lamp on it that added a warm light to the room.

He greeted us by lifting an imaginary hat.

„Hello, everyone.", he said. „Lady."

He slighty bowed to me and I shyly bit my lip.

„This is Bill.", Pete told us, „My brother."

 _That´s why they look so alike._

„He will take you to the lab."

Bill just nodded and gave us a friendly smile.

„I know I told you it would only be the Doctor and the girl, but Dr. Rhymes would like to accompany too. Is that a problem?"

„No, not a problem at all.", Bill said with a wink.

„So, you are the Doctor? Pete said you can propably safe us."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at Pete.

„Well, I wouldn´t go that far yet, but I´ll try my best."

Bill just nodded at that and then turned to me.

„Are you sure you want to join us? This is not a place for a young girl."

 _Why does everyone keep aksing me that?_

„Yes."

„Ena...", the Doctor said, „Pete and Duncan haven´t left yet you can still go back with them."

„No."

He sighed. „Alright."

„Okay, so Pete and I are going back. Do you have the gun I gave you?"

Duncan asked me.

I nodded and showed him the gun that rested in the rifle holder which was fastened to my belt.

„Good. Now, good luck on you.", Duncan said and left with a smile.

Pete came over and pulled me into a hug. I gave a surprised gasp, but returned his hugging.

„Take care.", he just said and then turned to Bill.

„Thank you and keep them safe, little brother."

„Don´t worry, I will!", Bill waved at Pete and then he was gone too.

„So, what happens now?", Dr. Rhymes asked.

Bill took the oil lamp in one hand and the shot gun into the other.

„First we head to my hiding place, then we rest. It´s a long march with all the military in the way and you look tired. We´ll eat and drink and we leave after sunset, it´s too dangerous to move around here by day."

The three of us agreed to this and so we followed Bill, who put out the fire of the oil lamp before we left the house and put it into his rucksack. Bill opened the main door a crack to peek to the outside.

„Okay, we´re lucky, no patrol in sight. Let´s go!"

Bill left the house and we entered the empty street. Everyhting looked like in a ghost town. Houses, shops and cars had been left and were rotting now. It looked so much like an actual apocalypse.

 _This is my race dying out._

I cought the Doctor´s gaze and he looked at me in a mixture of sadness and pity.

Bill lead us into a small alleyway with fire ladders at the sides of the houses.

„We will have to get in there and then move on through the garden,", he told us, already climbing one of the ladders.

„Are there many of the creatures?", I asked while following him.

„Not here, we will come across some later, I´m afraid. The military usually gets rid of them very fast, but further away from the check-point are less patrols, which means more infected. We´ll have to be careful."

I felt a shiver running down my spine and I asked myself why I was following this insane plan and didn´t stay in the village.

 _You know why._

Yes, in fact I really knew why. It was the Doctor. If he died out here I would never see him again I wouldn´t even know what had happened to him. I´d be stuck in this time until I die without knowing about his fate. I couldn´t let that happen.

„Damn, they locked the door! Stupid trespassers!", Bill sweared. „Not you, of course.", he smiled back at us.

Fumbling in his pocket, the Doctor stepped closer to the door.

„May I?" Bill stepped aside and gave the Doctor access to the door. The sonic screwdriver came out of the pocket and with a wheezing sound the door popped open.

„Wow! How did you do that?", Bill admired.

„Sonic screwdriver, useful little gadget.", the Doctor smiled and entered the house. We followed close behind. It was hard to see inside with no light so Bill took out his torch and lead the way.

„Be careful on the stairs there not that solid.", he said while walking sown said stairs, making creaking noises with each step. After we went down we were standing in a tiny floor and Bill lead us through the bedroom into a large garden. We could see remains of what might have been statutes and in the middle of the garden was a watersproud fountain. The stone might have been white some time ago, but now it was almost completely green with alga.

„How long will it take us to reach your hiding place?", Dr. Rhymes asked.

„Oh, it´s not that far, about half an hour."

Bill led us our way through gardens, streets and houses. Two times we had to hide from the patrols of the military, but Bill did a great job walking us through all the areas. The town looked like a real ghost town, ruins and abandonend houses, rotting cars and destroyed fences reminded me of a game I loved to play on my Playstation. Except this was real. Bill led us across a street and turned to us.

„We´re almost there.", he said and walked ahead.

Further away in the street we could hear some rattling, like a dustbin ahd been bowled down.

„What was that?", Dr. Rhymes asked, he couldn´t hide his nervousness.

„Whatever it is, it´s growling and snarling.", the Doctor said, looking concerned.

„We should hurry, common!"

Then we saw them. Three of the creatures came onto the streets, heading towards us.

„They,ve seen us! Hurry!"

We ran along the street until we had reached an old music store. Bill fumbled with some keys, but the Doctor just soniced the door and pulled it open.

„In, in, in!", Bill called in a hurry.

Looking behind me I could see the creatures coming closer and closer. Neil had been right, they were incredibly fast! When we were in the Doctor locked the door behind us.

„What now?", he asked Bill.

„Follow me!"

We followed Bill into a small back room of the store.

I heard glass break.

 _Oh, shit!_

„Hurry, now! Through the window!", Bill yelled and yanked the window open, gesturing wildly to us.

Dr. Rhymes climed through first, we could hear the noises getting closer.

„Go, both of you!", the Doctor said pushing me towards the window, while he tried to lock the door with his screwdriver, and I climed through, Bill close behind me.

„Doctor!"

I couldn´t see anything since Bill was in my way but I heard the door bang against the wall.

„Get out!", Bill yelled, loading his shotgun.

The Doctor climbed through the window, but when he was half out he buckled.

„Doctor!", I ran to him and grapped his arms, he was desperatly clinging to mine.

„It´s got my leg!"

I pulled and the Doctor gave a slight groan. I could see one of the creatures grabbing the Doctors leg, trying to bite him, but the Doctor somehow still managed it to shake his teeth away from his calf.

The creature growled angrily and then the two others appeared in the doorframe.

„No, no, no!" I desperatly pulled harder and actually, the creature was pulled against the wall untightening his grip.

Then a shot fell and the Doctor fell out of the window and on top of me.

„Ouch!"

Glass spilntered everywhere and we heard a shrieking groan from the creatures. I heard two more shots and then silence, well, except our heavy breathing.

„Well, that was narrow.", Bill stated.

Dr. Rhymes was panting and stared wide eyed into the window.

The Doctor groaned and rolled off me.

„Sorry.", he breathed heavily.

„I´m fine.", I just said. „You´re okay?" I sat up and pulled him into a hug.

„I´m fine.", he said, hugging me tight before letting go of me again.

On shaky legs, the Doctor stood up and put a hand on Bills shoulder.

„Thanks."

„You´re welcome. Now, is everyone okay? Noone injured?"

„No."

Dr. Rhymes just shook his head.

„Right then, lets go on, it´s really not far now."

After another fifteen minutes of walking my heartbeat was almost normal again. I wittingly hadn´t put a look back into that window, after all they had been human, dead or not, infected or not.

The Doctor kept giving me puzzled looks, but I tried to ignore it. I didn´t want to show weakness in front of the others.

Bill suddenly stopped infront of a school.

„So, here we are!"

„That´s your hideout?", Dr. Rhymes asked. „A school?"

„Nice one!", the Doctor just stated.

The school soon proved to be more safe than the houses we had seen on our way. The walls, windows and doors were all intact and doubly secured. Also, Bill had installed an alarm system, so we would hear if anything entered the school. He lead us across the floor to a small classroom. The tables and chairs

had been put to the walls and a matress was lying on the floor, alongside a bedside lamp and some books.

„This is my room, but I have more rooms like this, you never know who needs some shelter."

He led us to another room, a bit bigger and with two matresses.

„Maybe the men can use this one and you can have the room on the oppsite.", Bill suggested.

The thought of being alone after seeing that creatures in action wasn´t really amazing me.

„I think she needs some company now.", Dr. Rhymes said. „I´ll take the smaller room."

I gave him a thankful gaze and he smiled at me, as if to say _no problem._

„Okay. Then we better get some rest, the journey will be quite exhausting.", Bill said „If you need something I´ll be in my room. Try to get some sleep. See you in the morning."

With that he left.

„Right, I´ll try to gain some sleep. See you tomorrow.", Dr. Rhymes babbled and then he was gone too.

„You´re alright?", the Doctor asked when Rhymes was gone.

„I don´t know.", I answered honestly. „I mean, they were already dead, but..."

„Yeah, I know.", the Doctor said softly, putting a hand on my cheek.

„Now, try to sleep."

I simply nodded, knowing there would be no use in arguing.


	9. Interlude

+Interlude+

About 640 miles away in an office, a phone rang. The man behind the desk had been looking outside his window and watched the patrol of the military on the street below. It was late at night, or early in the morning, depends on which why you wanted to see it.

„Hello?"

„Sir? It´s me!"

Of course he recognized the voice.

„Yes, I know, what makes you calling me in the middle of the night?"

„He´s in right now, he´s crossed the borders."

„Very well, everything went finde, I suppose?"

„Well, he got almost bitten, but everything is fine so far."

„I need him alive, remember that he has to get through the zone safe and in one piece!"

„Yes, Sir."

„What about the girl?"

„She´s still with him, Sir."

„Well, it doesn´t matter, we´ll get rid of her, she´s of no use. Just make sure they get to this lab safely and don´t let them suspect anything."

„Of course, Sir."

„Good. I have to say you´ve done your job very well."

„Thank you, Sir."

„I still can´t believe how lucky we are, him being here and I didn´t even had to sent a fake distrass signal." The man behind the desk chuckled.

„Yeah, it´s been very lucky he crashed here."

„Well, however, keep an eye on him and make sure he´ll really reach that lab, I´ll be there and welcome him.", an evil smile formed on the mans lips. „Just call me when you´re close to it, I´ll be heading over tomorrow."

„Yes, Sir, goodnight, Sir."

The man hang up and then pressed a button on his desk. After a few seconds the voice of his assistant came out of the speaker on his desk.

„What can I do for you, Sir?"

„Prepare everything for a journey to Atlanta, I´ll be off at 8 in the morning."

„Yes, Sir."


	10. Chapter 9 - Of monsters and men

+9+ Of monsters and men

 **As soon as Ena was asleep the Doctor stood up and left the room. Voices came from the room Bill had shown them as his private room and the Doctor followed the voices. Dr. Rhymes and Bill were sitting on the floor, talking.**

„ **I thought we should get some rest.", he said with a smile.**

 **The two men turned their heads and looked at him.**

„ **Doctor!", Dr. Rhymes waved at him to come in. „I was asking Bill about the virus!"**

 **The Doctor went to sit on the floor next do Rhymes and Bill. In the middle of their little circle was an oil lamp, flickering in the, apart from that, dark room.**

„ **Dr. Rhymes told me that they´ve been suggesting that the virus doesn´t spread when people get bitten.", Bill said.**

„ **Yeah, Arthur Mullet told us so.", the Doctor replied „But in the way you were saying that I suppose this is not entirely true?"**

„ **No.", Dr. Rhymes said.**

„ **People do turn when they get bitten, I thought Pete, Mullet and their people would know that already. They don´t turn when they´re alive, though..."**

„ **They turn when they die.", the Doctor ended the sentence. „That´s what you´ve wanted to say, isn´t it?"**

„ **Yes.", Bill nodded.**

„ **Interesting, it seems to feed from dead tissue."**

„ **You said it´s propably an alien virus, could that cause those symtoms? Turning people into monsters only after they died.**

„ **Yes, that´s quite possible, I still think it´s a virus of the Comubes and since their biology is so different from the one of humans.. yes, I think that´s defenitly possible."**

„ **I never believed in aliens before.", Bill said.**

„ **Until Pete contacted me and told me about you. What´s so different with you? You look human."**

„ **No, you look Time Lord.", the Doctor smiled at him „Amd there are plenty of things, more than you can imagine."**

„ **He´s got two hearts.", Dr. Rhymes said in an admiringly voice as if he was talking about making a big archaeological discovery.**

 **Bill´s eyes widened.**

„ **Two hearts? Blimely, that´s creepy."**

„ **For you, propably, for me it´s the -heart-thing that´s creepy, still don´t get how you manage that.", the Doctor replied.**

„ **So, where do you come from? What is your planet like and why do you sound british?", Bill babbled.**

„ **Well, lots of planets have a Britain and please don´t get me wrong, but I don´t like talking about me on first dates, so tell us about you!", the Doctor said. „How did you end up here in the forbidden zone and never got caught?"**

„ **Well, I´m just very good at not being seen, and even if, I´m very good at escaping.", he said with a proud smile on his face.**

„ **In other words I´m the perfect smuggler for you."**

„ **Why did you stay here? Why not go to the village with your brother?"**

„ **Oh, I have a place in the village.", Bill answered, „Sometimes I go and pay them a visit, but I offered them to smuggle food and stuff to the outside and it´s easier to do it from in here. Also, I kind of like the excitement."**

 **The Doctor nodded.**

„ **You´re a man of adventure."**

„ **Exactly."**

 **They were quiet for a while. Then Dr. Rhymes took the word.**

„ **Are there lots of infected on our route?"**

 **Bill sighed.**

„ **We will meet a few, I suppose, but they´re not the problem, since they are quite easy to execute, it´s the military that we should avoid by any means. Will get difficult from time to time."**

„ **They´re not really the noce guys, are they?", the Doctor said.**

„ **No.", Bill said. „Who´s the girl by the way? Why bring her? As much as Pete told me she can´t help you in the lab."**

„ **She´s a friend of mine.", The Doctor said. „And she insisted on coming with us."**

 **Bill just nodded.**

„ **Will keep an eye on her.", he winked at the Doctor who gave him a friendly smile.**

„ **Thanks."**

„ **And on you too, that was pretty close, he almost bit you."**

„ **Yeah, I know, I´ve been there."**

 **Bill laughed. „Sorry, I didn´t mean to offend you."**

„ **What do you think would happen if they bit you?", Dr. Rhymes threw in.**

 **The Doctor thought for a moment.**

„ **Actually I don´t know. Maybe turn me too, maybe not, I really don´t know, but I´m also not very keen of finding out."**

 **Dr. Rhymes yawned.**

„ **Well, I supposed we should really get some rest. I´m going to sleep.", he stood up. „Goodnight, gentelmen." With that he left the room.**

„ **I suppose I should be leaving too, you propably want to get some sleep." The Doctor also stood up.**

„ **What about you`Won´t you go to bed?"**

„ **That´s another difference between me and you, I need less sleep than humans."**

 **Bill just smiled.**

„ **I think I don´t envy you.", Bill said while getting up as well.**

 **The Doctor, now standing in the door frame turned around.**

„ **The two hearts thing.", Bill said. „Always carrying twice the pain that we feel. I think I couldn´t cope with that."**

 **The Doctor just looked at him.**

„ **I can see it in your eyes, you know.", Bill continued. „All the loss in your eyes. Pete told me about your age, must be hell loosing everyone around you. I lost my son to the military, he got shot after the infection broke out."**

„ **I´m sorry.", the Doctor said, standig there, his shoulders hanging and a pityful look on his face.**

„ **Don´t worry, I´ll make sure you won´t loose her, too."**

 **The Doctor gave Bill a nod and a sad smile before went back to his room again.**


	11. Chapter 10 - Cards

+10+ - Cards

I shot up from the matress because of a very loud, rattling noise next to my ear. I could hear someone swear and turned my head to find the Doctor standing behind me, bending down to pick up the oil lamp he´d obviously just dropped.

„Jesus, I almost got an heart attack.", I panted.

„Sorry.", the alien muttered, placing the lamp on one of the tables.

„Is your clumsiness kicking in again?"

„Oi, shut up!"

I blinked against the sunlight that was shining through the huge windows.

„What time is it?", I wanted to know.

„Sometime in the morning."

„Oh, how very _precisely."_

It must´ve been very early in the morning, since I realized the sun was only just rising and put everyhting into an orange light.

„I think the others are still asleep.", the Doctor said now leaning against a table. Looking around I found that the floor of the room was covered with pieces of origami work and a Rubik´s cube (a solved one) lay on the Doctor´s matress. I looked up to him.

„You haven´t slept, have you?"

„No.", he just said.

I grinned at him and stood up to stretch my body, the matress had been very hard.

„So, what are we going to do all day before we leave?"

The Doctor shrugged.

„I don´t know.".

„Well then, let´s have breakfast.", I said pulling out the bread.

„I´m not hungry.", the Doctor said, starting a new piece of origami.

I shrugged and pulled the rest back in to my bag.

As I was eating the Doctor finished his origami (a swan) and then just tood there, arms folded, and watched me.

„Stop that."

„Am I making you nervous?", he grinned.

„No, I just hate to be watched while im eating!"

I finished eating and then stared back at him.

„What now?"

„I don´t know."

„Well, I have a cards game in my bag."

He clapped his hands.

„Yes! Good! Very good idea! Let´s play cards!"

„God, you really are bored, aren´t you?"

He gave me a desperate look and I just nodded. He hated it to wait, especially when there is something he hasn´t figured out yet.

I stood up to help him carry one of the tables into the middle of the room. Both of us took a chair to sit on.

After 12 rounds of „Hearts" (out of which I had won exactly, well, 0) we noticed a shape in the door frame.

„Morning.", Bill said.

„Hi.", I replied.

„How´s it going?", he aksed, entering the room followed by Dr. Rhymes.

„Ah, well, we´re trying to kill some time, you see?", the Doctor said with a smile. „Since my ship is gone we can´t just skip the boring parts of waiting."

Dr. Rhymes and Bill each took a chair to join us at the table. I looked at my friend.

„Still no signal from her?"

He sighed. „No."

„What do you think is taking her so long?"

„My theory is that she received some serious damage because of the shooting. And repairing that damage is slowing her down."

„You mean she needs more time to heal?", I asked, playing my card.

„Exactly."

Dr. Rhymes seemed to be listening with great interest.

„Are you saying your ship can heal itself, meaning it can repair damage on its own?"

„Yes, she can heal _her_ self. She´s a clever old girl.", the Doctor stated, prife glinting in his eyes.

„Sorry... _her_? _",_ Bill said „I thought we were talking about a spaceship?"

„We are, yes.", I said with amusement. Once you knew about all the time travel, Time Lords and timey wimey stuff it was just so funny to see people´s reactions to it. „Except this one is alive, or kind of."

„Well, she is a spaceship and she´s _very_ alive.", the Doctor said giving me an insulted look.

„Sorry.", I mouthed.

„So, can she talk?", Rhymes asked.

„No, no, she isn´t constructed that way. Although she actually _was_ talking once, she was imprisoned in a human body, but that´s a long story."

I wanted to ask him about it, but he looked rather thoughful and yearning so I decided to leave it. I just noticed that he had played his last card and, again, had won.

I sighed.

„So, you two wanna join in?", I asked Bill and Dr. Rhymes.

„Yes, sure!"

„I can´t even remember when I last played a game of cards.", Bill said with a sad smile.

„Yeah, it´s been a while.", Rhymes added.

We spent the rest of the day playing cards and chatting.

After it got dark we got ready to leave. Bill had prepared backpacks for all four of us, filled with food cans, water bottles and a knife. My bag was small enough to be stuffed in too.

While we had been playing cards Bill told us that the military and the infected weren´t the only ones to be avoided. He told us about gangs, lingering in the streets at night, rubbing passers-by and capture some of them.

„What do they do with the people they kidnap?", I asked.

„Well, I don´t think I have to explain to you what they´re doing to the women?"

I pulled a disgustedly face. The Doctor just had a dark expression on his face.

„We think after they tortured them, they eat the men. It´s hard to find proper food these days."  
I felt like I was getting sick.

„Well, let´s stay away from them, then.", the Doctor just said, again winning the game.

„Yeah, sounds like they are pretty sick bastards."

„Yes, they absolutely are."

„Okay, same as yesterday, you follow me and you will follow my instructions and don´t ask why I tell you do something just do it, alright?"

„Understood."

Dr. Rhymes just nodded.

„I trust you.", the Doctor just said.

And then we headed to the exit of the school.


	12. Chapter 11 - Danger

+11+ - Danger

„Where are we going exactly?", I asked after we´ve walked about 1 hour, always trying to avoid patrols of the soldiers. Most of the time we had been sneaking from building to building since it was too dangerous to walk in the middle of the road.

„We are heading for the zoo.", Bill said.

„The zoo?", the Doctor said, „that´s pretty close to the centre already."

„Yes, we´ll have a rest there and will do the rest of the way tomorrow night."

„Why the zoo?", I asked.

„Remember when I told you about the gangs? Well, there are good gangs as well. I have friends who are in a gang, a friendly one of course, and they live in the zoo. Build their own little community in there."

„And they´ll help us?", Dr. Rhymes asked as we were entering an old gas station.

„Well, they won´t help us get in I think, but I´m sure they´ll give us a place to rest. I once saved the life of their leader, so he kind of owes me a favour."

„It´s always good to have someine who owes you a favour.", the Doctor smirked, pulling out a torch, since it was almost pitch black inside the building.

„We should look around if we find something useful and then hide. It´s best if we wait until the next patrol has passed.", he took a look at his watch. „They should be here in about 15 minutes, if we leave now we´ll run straight into them. We have to make a short piece of the road on the streets after we will have left here, the buildings are all entrenched."

„There´s no way in?", I asked.

„No, this is one of the few areas where the houses are well secured, you can´t break into them, would take hours, the soldiers would find you before you got in."

I nodded.

The Doctor was strolling around looking at the dusty, empty shelves. There were still price labels tagged on them. I went behind the counter and entered the room behind it.

 _Staff only_ was written in red letters on the door. The room was pretty much empty except a small table, two chairs and a very small kitchen. Everything was full of dust. I opened one of the kitchen´s drawers. It contained a

lighter. I tried it and found it was still working.

„I found nothing.", Dr. Rhymes said, coming from another romm which had propably been the storage.

„I found a lighter, it´s still working in case anyone needs one."

„Oh, yes, please!", Bill almost sighed and took it from my outstreched hand.

Then he fumbled in one of his pockets.

„I found cigarettes."

„Seriously?", the Doctor said. „You are fighting zombies and soldiers to surivive and then you ruin your lungs by smoking a cigarette?!"

Bill took a deep draw on the cigarette and let out a sigh.

„I missed this."

I giggled at the Doctor´s unbevlievingly expression and walked over to him.

„Still no signal?"

„No, but there will be.", he gave me an assuring smile and couldn´t help but smile back at him.

„I think we can do this.", he continued, „Bill is a good guide we stayed out of trouble until now, I think we can reach this lab without being kidnapped or killed, or..."

„Yeah, I know!", I hissed in a whisper. „Please don´t remind me of the possibilty of death. There´s no need for that."

„Sorry.", he whispered back.

Outside we could see moving lights on the street.

„Alright.", Bill put his cigarette out and turned to us. „Time to hide!"

„Will they be coming in?", the Doctor asked.

„They usually don´t.", Bill whispered and hid behind the counter together with Dr. Rhymes, while the Doctor pulled me by the wrist into the storage room where we hid behind one of the shelves.

We could hear the soldiers talk outside, but we couldn´t see how close they were from our hiding place. The voices were getting louder and I could see a trail of light on the floor, swinging around.

 _A torch._ It was only there for about a minute then it was gone again. I could hear someone shout something that sounded like _All looks clear!_.

We waited in our hiding position for about another ten minutes before we heard Bill´s low voice.

„It´s okay they should be far away enough by now."

I sighed in relieve to be able to move again and stood up, seeing the Doctor stretching is limps and shaking his right foot strangely.

„What are you doing?"

„It fell asleep.", he said pulling a grimace.

I chuckled.

„What´s wrong?", Bill came through the door.

„His foot fell asleep.", I giggled.

„That´s not funny! I can´t even feel it.", the alien complained.

„Only you can manage to get one of your limbs fall asleep while hiding."

He gave me an offended look while trying to keep his balance, only standing on one food.

„And now we can´t leave beacuse of your foot being asleep.", I teased him.

He stuck his tongue out at me.

„You´re way too cheeky sometimes!"

I knelt down and grabbed his ankle.

„What are you doing?", he asked.

„Helping.", I simply said and began to massage his lower leg, always starting right under the knee and moving my hands down to the ankle.

„God, I hate that feeling.", he grimaced as the blood came flooding back into his foot again.

„Will this take long? Because we´ll have to leave soon!", Bill said from behind me.

„Won´t take long.", I simply said. I gave the Doctor´s leg another three strokes until I got up again.

„Better?"

„Yeah, thanks, still tickling, but let´s go now.", he said.

„Right, follow me."

We followed Bill right onto the street. As we walked I could see the houses and buildings that had been firmly shut with metal bars on doors and windows. Even the windows of the cellars had been closed that way.

„Okay, we go straight forward, just follow me!", Bill said and broke into a slightly, chilling run. We made it only through the secured area before we heard voices again, laughing and from around the corner we could see an orange glow like a fire would do.

„Oh, no."

Bill suddenly stopped, making the Doctor almost running into him. Me and Dr. Rhymes stopped behind them.

„What´s wrong?", he asked.

„Dear god, no."

„Bill, what´s wrong?", the Doctor asked as Bill stared into the direction the light came from.

„Turn off your torches!", he hissed. „This way!"

With a pounding heart I followed his order and followed him into a shop, a supermarket, which we entered through a hole in it´s front window.

„Hide! And don´t make any noise! It´s one of the gangs!"

For a second I just stared at him, then I got dragged behind one of the pay desks just as the light ray of a torch hit the spot where I had been standing just one second ago.

„Stay down!", the Doctor hissed in my ear.

I crouched down as far as I could, the Doctor behind my bag, arms outstreched around me and pressing his palms agains the desk as if he tried to protect me from a shot.

We could hear the voices getting closer.

 _Oh no, that´s not good._

„I think I saw someone.", came a voice from outside and another light ray searching for us.

„Great. They´ve seen us.", the Doctor whispered.

„What do we do?"

„Just stay down, maybe they won´t come in."

He was wrong. They came in. We heard glass braking as they increased the size of the hole in the window and climed through.

I desperatly tried to stay calm and breath without making too much noise. The Doctor dragged me even deeper, so I had to climb under the desk completely, so I was sitting now in the little room under the table with the cash box on it.

Somehow he managed to fit in there too, but it was unbelievingly uncomfortable and I couldn´t move at all. I was frightened I couldn´t deny that and I realized that I was shaking and my brething had fastened.

„Well, let´s see if you were right. Maybe we´ll find someone to play with tonight?"

The voice seemed to belong to a middle aged man, if I didn´t know he belonged to a brutal gang of man torturing other humans I would have found is voice very nice.

They were now very close to the pay desk and I prepared myself for the light of the torch to find us and then being brutally murdered.

„Hold your breath.", the Doctor whispered so quietly I almost didn´t hear him.

I did as he told me. The men were now passing by and, just like a miracle, ignored the pay desk and made their way straight to the rows of shelves.

We could hear them throwing around glas and other stuff, yelling and obviously having fun in destroying stuff. I really hoped Dr. Rhymes and Bill had found a good hiding place.

The Doctor suddenly moved, slowly, creeping out from under the desk slowly straightening his back and lifting his head to peak a sneek.

„Doctor!", I hissed. „Don´t!"

He managed to get a look before he crouched down again.

„There are six of them.", he whispered. "Bill gave me a sign to slowly head for the entrance again."

„What!? We´ll never make it, they´ll us!"

„If we stay here, they´ll find us sooner or later. This is our best chance, I think."

„You _think_?!"

„Yes!"

We could hear someone shout and a lot of noise as one of the shelves came down. The Doctor immediatly shot up and saw Dr. Rhymes and Bill sprinting towards us.

„Up!", he ordered me and I got on my feed as quick as I could.

One of the shelves lay on one of the gang members. He growled in pain, while the others where looking around in shock. But unfortunately they got themselves together far too soon.

All of them were middle aged, like Bill, beardy and had a pretty impressive statue. They really din´t look like the nice guys.

„Get them!"

„Come on!", the Doctor shouted heading for the window. We climbed trough the window again, back on the street.

„You bastards!", I could here one of the man shout. „Come back here!"

We ran, the men always close behind us.

„To the right!", we followed Bill into some smaller streets, again the men close behind.

Then I noticed something flying across our heads.

„Oh, shit!", Bill gasped and immediatly stopped his running.

The explosion made my heart racing like an antelope hunted by a cheetah. Then all we saw was grayness.

 _A smoke bomb._

I tried not to breath in too much of it, but it was hard and I soon I was coughing hard. I couldn´t see anything, neither where our pursuers where nor where the others or the Doctor where.

I dind´t know in which direction to turn, so I decided just to go forward. I could hear one of the man close behind me.

„We´ll get you anyway, you know!"

Then someone grabbed my wrist. I tried to pull free, but then I realised it was Dr. Rhymes who was pulling me.

„Where are the others?", I said, still coughing.

„Sssh! Don´t say anything and try not to cough or they´ll hear in which direction we´re going.!", he whispered.

He was right. Not only we couldn´t see where to go, but our persuars also didn´t see where we were going! Desperatly I tried to stop the coughing.

Dr. Rhymes led us into a small alley and we got lucky.

We found a fire ladder.

„Come on, but try to make no noise."

Slowly we climbed up the ladder until we reached a broken window through which we could climb inside the house.

It was a small appartement with no furniture left except the kitchen. I crawled to the other window from where I could see down on the street. The smoke was slowly fading again and I could see the figures of three of the men.

„Where have they gone?"

„That bomb was a stupid idea."

„It was supposed to slow them down!"

„Well, it obviously didn´t work!"

„I really hopethe others are alright.", I said with a shaking voice as Dr. Rhymes

knelt down beside me, also taking a look out of the window.

„Me too."

 **He ran, but he couldn´t see a thing. Also, he didn´t know where the others were, he couldn´t hear them around. But that was propably the best thing to do, keeping quiet so their hunters could not hear them. He started coughing as he breathed in too much of the smoke. It was everywhere! He didn´t even know where to turn too. The footsteps of the men were getting closer, he needed a place to hide!  
But where to turn? His decision got facilitaed by someone grabbing his sleeve.**

„ **There you are!"**

 **It was one of their persuers. Quickly he managed to get out of his coat leaving it in the man´s hands and ran in the opposite direction. He found an old bookstore with both doors missing and quickly got in.**

 **He was now outside the smoky cloud which already was fading into the air. With pounding hearts he stood now in the book store searching for a place to hide. He could already hear the man getting closer.**

„ **I saw you! There´s no point in hiding!"**

 _ **Still worth a try.**_ **, the Doctor thought, but he didn´t have much time to look for the most efficient hiding place.**

 _ **So, it´s the pay desk again!**_

 **He crouched underneath the small desk, which really was just a small desk with a cash point on it. He stopped breathing as the man entered the shop, followed by more foodsteps.**

 _ **Oh, great there´s two of them!**_

 **He kept perfectly still as their torches searched around the room.**

„ **Are you sure he´s in here?", another voice asked.**

„ **Absolutely sure. We´ll find you anyway, you know! Come out, be a good boy!"**

 **The Doctor didn´t like this one, he obviously was some kind of psychopath. He was desperatly thinking of a way out of this now, but he couldn´t find one. He was trapped. He cursed himself for running into this small shop where there was nowhere further to run. He was trapped and it was his own fault.**

 _ **Stupid Doctor, you should have known better!**_

 **His thoughts got interrupted by the desk being pulled away from him and being thrown over, so it was lending on its tabletop. Alarmed the Doctor jumped on his feed and stumbled backwards, his back hitting the wall hard, staring at the men in front of him.**

„ **My, my, look who´s here. It´s one of our new playmates.", the psycho purred.**


	13. Chapter 12 - The Zoo

+12+ - The zoo

„ **Ah, hello!, the Doctor said, holding his hands up. „I´m the Doctor and who are you?"**

 **The psycho one (with blonde, messy hair and a half grown beard) grinned.**

„ **Oh, he´s a doctor."**

 **The other one took a step forward, he had dark hair and a fully grown beard.**

„ **Noone your age can become a doctor these days, they don´t get accomplished anymore. How old are you? Fifteen?", he laughed, waving his gun around.**

 **The Doctor pulled an insulted face.**

„ **I am far older than I look and I really don´t like having a gun pointed at me."**

„ **No?", the psycho grinned walking towards the Doctor who straightened himself up and stubbornly held the psycho´s gaze. The man was slightly taller than him and stopped just before him, their faces very close to each other.**

„ **What do you like then?", he purred, pushing the Doctor on the chest so he was backed against the wall again.**

„ **Well, I´d like you to leave my friends and me alone.", the alien said in a dark voice.**

 **The psycho laughed.**

„ **Jim, do you hear that?"**

 **Jim nodded.**

„ **Yes.", he grinned.**

„ **Well,** _ **your**_ **friends just killed one of** _ **our**_ **friends by throwing a shelf on top of him!", he yelled the last bit of the sentence, making the Doctor´s ears ring.**

„ **Yeah, and I´m really sorry for your loss, but...", he got interrupted by the psycho again.**

„ **SHUT UP!", he shouted, grabbed the Doctor´s hair and yanked his head back. The Time Load gave a moan in pain and tried to pull free. The man used his other hand to grab the Doctor´s chin and forced the man to look at him. His eyes were sparkling with madness.**

„ **Your friends killed him and you will pay for that!", he spat.**

„Where are the others?", I asked, still trying to see through the window without being noticed by the men down on the street.

„I don´t know, hopefully they´re safe.", Dr. Rhymes answered.

The smoke was gone now and we could see them properly now for the first time in the past minutes. Like I had noticed in the supermarket before, they all were around 40, carried backpacks and two of the three had a beard. And all of them were carrying weapons. One had a gun, another a knife and the third one carried a baseball bat.

A few meters away form them I noticed something lying on the ground. The Doctor´s coat and his backpack! Immediatley my pulse got faster and my heart now really hammered against my chest. One of the men had noticed it as well and picked the stuff up.

„Damn, where are they?", I couldn´t hide the concern in my voice, I just hoped Bill and the Doctor would be safe.

„Dave! Jim! Have you found something?", on of the men, with dark hair and without a beard, suddenly shouted.

I heard voices coming from the small street that went around the corner, but I couldn´t hear what they were saying.

Soon another man came around the corner of the house and entered the crossroads. Another man followed close behind him, dragging someone along with him.

„Doctor!", I gasped and jumped on my feet, ready to run down the stairs again, but Dr. Rhymes pulled me back down.

„You can´t help him when you get caught yourself!", he said.

I nodded and tried to calm down. We needed a plan!

Down on the street the four men formed a circle around the Doctor and the man holding him.

„Where´s the rest of your group?", a red haired man asked, toying with his knife.

The Doctor didn´t answer him. His hands were tied behind his back and the blonde man was holding him by wrapping his arm around the Time Lord´s chest. The Doctor had his jaws pressed together, staring back at the man. He was in defence mode.

„What makes you think I´d tell you?", he growled.

„Well...", the read head said and the man who was holding my alien friend yanked his head back by the hair.

Again I fought the urge to just run down and help him, although I knew I wouldn´t make it very far.

The red head pressed his knife against the Doctor´s, now exposed, throat. „Maybe this will. Tell me or I´ll cut your throat!"

I felt tears in my eyes. Desperatly I looked to Dr. Rhymes, who swallowed nervously. He obviously didn´t have a plan, but then he took is gun out of his pocket and pointed it at the men.

„I don´t know if this works, they are too far away to aim properly with this small pistol."

„Even if I knew, I wouldn´t tell you.", the Doctor on the street hissed.

„You´re going to shoot them?", I asked.

„Wait, look!", Rhymes said, he lowered his gun and pointed to the building on the oppsite side of the street. And there, in a window on the second floor I saw a face.

„Bill!"

Bill, in the window, had noticed us and waved with something, then he gave a sign to go downstairs again.

„What was that thing in his hand?", I asked, while Rhymes pocketed his weapon again.

„Do you know what Bill is really good at?", he said with a smile.

„No."

„Builiding smoke bombs.", Rhymes said while we were heading for the window through which had come in.

„We´re gonna beat them with their own methods."

He dragged me back down the fire ladder and we managed it ti get down without being heard. Carefully we took a look around the corner so we could see what was going on in the street.

„Make sure you remember where everyone is standing, it´s important we get him out without being caught. When we´ve got him we run straight down the street, got that?"

I nodded. Bill, who was still insight from where we were hiding, and Dr. Rhymes exchangend some signs and I wondered if they actually were able to speek in signs or if they were just trying to tell each other what to do by wildly gesturing around.

„Hey!", the blonde man who was holding the Doctor yelled, „Get out! Or your bowtie-friend here will pay!"

I could feel every part of my body tense. We had to save him! Now!

The Bill gave us a sign and Dr. Rhymes said „Now."

This time we were prepared for the loud bang the bomb made, but the men on the street weren´t. As soon as the smoke made it impossible to see I sprinted towards the group.

„Ena!", I heard Dr. Rhymes calling, but I ignored it. I could hear the men coughing and carefully tried not to run into one of them.

Then I stumpled and I realized that I had tripped over something.

„Ouch!", the thing said.

„Doctor?!"

„Ena?"

 _Oh, thank god!_

I reached down to help him up.

„This way!"

I dragged him into the direction Dr. Rhymes had showed me, or at least I hoped so. To my left I could hear the psycho swear.

„Bastards!"

„Run!"

„That´s a bit difficult to do when you´re hands are tied on your back!", the Doctor complained.

„Oh, thank god, there you are!", this was Bill´s voice.

The smoke was already fading and I could see his silhouette in front of us.

„Follow me!", he grabbed my hand and started to run.

The Doctor (I was dragging him along with me by grabbing his upper arm) was definitely struggling to run without his arms. While running I managed it to pull the knife out of the side pocket of my backpack. When we got out of the smoke I could see Dr. Rhymes had made it too and was running along with us.

„Keep running!", Bill yelled.

It was hard to remember the way we took, but it wouldn´t really matter anyway. After we had run for around 10 minutes we finally stopped to catch our breaths again. I took this opportunity to cut the Doctor´s wirsts free from the rope.

„Ah, thanks!", he said, rubbing his wrists.

„You´re alright?", Bill asked him and the Doctor nodded.

„Although I loved that coat."

„Was your screwdriver in it?", I asked.

„No, it´s here!", he grinned, pulling it out of the pocket of his trousers.

„But you never carry it in your trousers.", I said confused.

„No, I usually don´t, let´s just call it intuition. Still gonna miss that coat."

„I always thought you had more than one of these.", I giggled.

„Oh, I do! They´re in the TARDIS.", he smiled, „Which is gone too."

And his smile faded.

„Is everyone else okay?", he then asked and we assured him that we were fine.

„It´s not far by now.", Bill said and pointed down the main street which lead to the highway.

„But we have to be fast, the sun will be rising soon and then the patrols will be here again."

He guided us down the street and to the highway. Again we could see how damaged the city actually was and a strange feeling hit me.

„Are you alright?", Dr. Rhymes asked me when he saw my face.

„Yes, yes I´m fine."

The Doctor turned his head around to meet my gaze, but didn´t say anything.

Whe kept walking for another twenty minutes when we finally reached the entrance of the zoo.

 _Zoo Atlanta_ said the sign and we headed for the cash point.

„Stop! Stay where you are! We are armed!", a voice shouted.

Immediatley we stopped walking and held up our hands.

„It´s me!", Bill shouted back. „Thomas, is that you?!"

From behind one of the cash points a head was showing up.

„Bill?"

„Yes!"

The man left is hiding place and took a few steps forward as if to check if he really was tallking to Bill.

„It´s really him!", he yelled and three other men came out of their hiding places.

Thomas headed towards us with a smile on his face.

„Dear Lord, it´s really you!", he said and Bill and him shook hands.

„It´s like an eternity has passed since I last saw you, mate! Who are your companions?", he asked nodding to us.

„I´ll explain everything, but can we get inside first?"

„Of course, of course! ", Thomas said and waved us to follow him.

The other man had been waiting in the background and joind us while we were entering the abandoned zoo.


	14. Chapter 13 - Shelter

-By Dawn-

+1+

Prologue

There was this beautiful, familiar sound when the TARDIS landed and the Doctor rushed to the doors.

„Let´s see where we´ve landed!", he said excited.

„You said it´s 2030.", I replied.

„Yes! And I tried to hit Atlanta, let´s see if I did it!"

I straightened my dress so it fitted properly and followed him out of the TARDIS.

What I saw wasn´t Atlanta. Or, propably it was, but not as people knew it.

We were on a destroyed bridge. Under us was a huge river floating.

„So, how much did you miss it?", I asked, looking around for the Doctor who was running around to check his environment.

„I didn´t. We are in the center, actually. Look at that." He pointed in the direction behind me, so I turned around to find that we just landed in a total destroyed city.

There were holes in the asphalt, cars lying on their sides or on their roofs.

Houses and Sky scratchers looked like ruins, glass was everywhere. And then the bridge we were standing on: the part that should be above the water was completely gone, just like it fell into the river.

Everything looked like straight out of an apocalypse movie.

„What the hell happened here. This looks like a scene from ´The walking

dead`", I said in total disbelief.

This couldn´t be real. Maybe we were still in the TARDIS and I was in my bed, dreaming.

„Doctor, what´s going on here?", I asked with a shaky voice.

Right at this moment a shot fell and I heard glas break.

I heard the Doctor gasp and turned around in shock.

He was unharmed, but the bullet hit one of the TARDIS´ windows.

„Nonononono!"

The Doctor was upset now, running towards his ship, when another shot fell.

A scream escaped my mouth and I ducked behind a car to not get shot.

„Doctor! Get down!"

The second shot ripped a little hole into the right frontdoor.

I couldn´t see much, but I could hear the Doctor shout in fury.

„Stop shooting at my ship!"

It was just now, that I saw two military jeeps standing just a few meters away from where we´ve landed.

Then I heard the familiar sound of the TARDIS dematerializing.

I got up again to see what was going on.

„No! Don´t do this now!", the Doctor shouted at his ship, looking desperate.

„What´s going on?" I had reached his side now.

„When the TARDIS is under attack she dematerializes.", the time lord replied breathless.

„Dematerializing where?" I couldn´t manage to sound calm.

„Somewhere.", he said, gesturing wildly with his hands and utter despair in his face.

„Great!", I gasped.

The Doctor suddenly stopped staring at where the TARDIS was standing a few seconds ago and turned his head.

„Oh, dear."

I turned around. About a dozen soldiers came out of their hiding places and out of the jeeps now, pointing their guns at us. My eyes widened and I

couldn´t stop my body from shaking.

For a moment we just stared at them, then we heard an order.

„Shoot them!"

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver to block the weapons, but that

wasn´t going to take an effect for long.

„Run!"

I spinned around and starting running as fast as I could, the Doctor right in front of me.

He was heading for the end of the bridge!

Behind us I could hear the soldiers swear, because their guns wouldn´t work, but, just as we reached the middle of what was left of the bridge, I could hear a bgun firing again.

The bullet hit a sign just right beside my head. I couldn´t help but let out a scream.

„What are you doing?!", I shrieked as the Doctor kept running straight towards edge.

„Trust me!"

The next shot just missed me a few milimeters and I speeded up.

„Doctor!"

I saw him jump. Then he was gone.

„No!"

I felt tears in my eyes as I reached the edge of the bridge and looked down into the water race.

This was the only opportunity I had besides getting shot, so I follwed the Doctor and jumped off the egde.

The water was icy. I could feel my clothes soaking the wet up and getting impossibly heavy. The waters´ race didn´t make things easier, I tried hard to stay on the surface. It worked for a few moments, but soon I got weak and the

stream kept pulling me under water. I desperatly tried to get enough air in my lungs, but it didn´t work.

 _I´m going to die._

My body got weaker every time I got under water and I could feel my consciousness fade.

Suddenly, I could feel something pulling me and something that felt like clothes. I grabbed it with both hands and clasped onto it as hard as I could.

Then I fell into darkness.

+2+

Down

„Ena."

My name... I could hear my name. But from so far away...

„Hey, wake up!"

I knew that voice, it made me feel safe. I smiled. The darkness seemed to fade

slowly.

„Ena!"

I blinked against the light as I opened my eyes. It took some moments until my vision cleared and I realized what happened a few moments ago.

„Ah, there you are, back again."

A hand patted my head and I could see the Doctor´s smiling face above me.

„You´re alright?"

I wanted to answer, but all I got out was coughing. He helped me to sit up and after a couple of moments the coughing was over and I breathed heavily.

„What happened?"

„You swallowed too much water.", he said, now looking a bit worried „I´m sorry, but it was the only way."

„I know. And we´re still alive aren´t we?", I smiled.

Turning my head to look around I found that we were no longer in the city itself, but in a forest. The river was nowhere to be seen, but I could still hear it in the distance.

The Doctor must have pulled me out ot the water and carried me here.

I looked at him.

„Thank you."

„You´re welcome. Can you stand?", he asked and offered me his hand to get up.

I still felt a bit dizzy, but I could manage walking.

„It´s okay, I´m fine.", I said.

„Right. I don´t know how far the river has been taking us, but I think it still is Atlanta.", the Doctor said.

„Also, I don´t know where the TARDIS is and how to find her, so we don´t have much choice, but just get walking."

The alien looked around as if he was unsure which direction to choose.

The situation was weird and a bit frightening. We were in a forest somewhere in or near Atlanta, we didn´t have the TARDIS, almost got shot and the city was more like a battlefield than an actual city. Something was very wrong here

and I was pretty sure the Doctor had already decided to find out what.

„This looks like someone has been walking here before." I heard the timelord mumble and got closer to him to see what he saw.

The grass was flattened and actually looked like a path leading into the forest.

„You´re coming?", he said and started walking.

„Do I have a choice?", I asked and followed him straight into the woods.

While walking I felt my legs being scratched and poked by the grass and little bushes alongside the path. I cursed myself for having chosen a dress over a pair of jeans.

„If you don´t know how to find the TARDIS then how are we going to get her back?", I asked.

„I don´t know. She´ll propably just pop up sometime. I just installed the defence systems, but they need some further development! I forgot to take them of after working on it."

„What do we do if she doesn´t come back?"

„Oh, don´t worry, I´m really sure she will! She always does!", the Doctor turned his head to give me an assuring smile, but it didn´t really work on me.

If we really lost the TARDIS and she would not return, we would have to stay in 2030. All my friends and my family and my fiancee would suddenly be much older. Also, they wouldn´t have seen or heard of me in about 14 years!

Quickly I wiped away that thought and decided to focus on what was happening right now. Why had there been soldiers and why did they try to shoot us and what made the city look like that?

The Doctor lead us deeper and deeper into the woods until he suddenly stopped.

„What´s wrong?", I just wanted to asked, but stopped myself from doing so.

I saw what was wrong.

The small path we were following disappeared behind a huge gate made of wood.

There also was a fence, at least 3 meters high, on both sides of the gates, reaching into the forest to both sides.

„What´s that?"

„It´s a fence.", the Doctor replied.

I sighed. The wrong questions always got you the wrong answers. I tried again.

„What´s it build for?"

„Interesting question.", the Doctor stated while he fumbling in his jacket to get the sonic screwdriver out.

„Let´s find out!"

Luckily the lock of the gate was made of metal, so the Doctor could easily open it with his gadget.

He closed the gate as we´ve walked through and looked around.

The area we were standing in wasn´t any different than the forest behind the gate and the fence, so what was that fence good for?

The Doctor scanned the surroundig with his screwdriver, but I could see in his face that he didn´t get any results of anomaly.

„What are you here for?", he said more to himself(and the fence) than to me. „What are you supposed to keep out? Or in?"

„Doctor, the path continues.", I stated.

„Oh, yes, good!"

The weirdest thing in here was, that we couldn´t see how wide the area was that was surrounded by the fence, because it reached so deep into woods.

Neither on the left nor on the right side we could see the fence, so the space surrounded by it must have been huge.

„It´s huge.", the Doctor whispered, in that exact moment, but then followed the path that continued its way straight ahead.

After a couple of minutes I noticed that the trees were getting less. About one-third of the tree population had been fell.

„Look! There´s another fence coming!"

„What?"

He was right. As I turned my head to look front again I saw it too.

Another gate, another fence. This time made of wire mesh.

„What the hell is this place?"

I didn´t like this, my gut instinct was telling me we shouldn´t be here, but my mind screamed at me to go on and find out what was going on.

This time we could see how big the surrounded area was. It was much smaller than the one we were standing in now, propably as big as a pitch.

What we also could see were trees, except in this area they hadn´t been fell.

„What´s so special about this space?", the Doctor said lost in thoughts.

There were sounds coming from inside the forest, from behind the fence.

„Maybe this area is dangerous. I mean, taking a look at what the city looked like..."

„Sssh."

It´s sounded like animals, but then again it didn´t. It was some kind of grunting.

„It´s propably a minefield and we´re getting blown up if we walk in..."

And some sort of growling. And what was that smell?

„Doctor, shush!"

„Oi, don´t shush me!"

„Don´t you hear that?", I whispered.

He stopped arguing and listened.

„Sounds like some predator..."

Carefully he raised his arm and soniced the lock to open the gate. We skipped through and stood still, listening.

„I can´t relate this to any animal I´ve ever heard.", the time lord stated.

I nodded. The sound was terrifying. Slowly and very careful we started sneaking towards the sound.

„When I soniced this area it wasn´t showing any life signs.", the Doctor said in a whisper.

„How is that possible? There clearly is something!", I whispered back.

„I know!"

We hid behind an aggregation of large bushes, trying to descry the source of the sound. Also, the smell got stronger.

We actually found something. Cages. We reached the middle of the area and there were cages about 2 meters high and wide, six of them standing next to each other, another 10 surrounded the six cages in the middle like someone was trying to form the letter „U" with them.

„Come on.", the Doctor said pulling me by the hand, leaving our hiding place and heading straight towards the cages.

Since we only saw the backsides of them we didn´t know what to expect.

The Doctor walked around the cages and pulled me with him until we were

standing exactly between the cages.

A gasp. The Doctor didn´t say a word, there was horror written all over his face.

I clapped my hand over my mouth. Pure terror was in my eyes as I looked around. The Doctors´grip on my wrist had become so hard I almost feared he could break it.

The source of the noises, and what was in those cages, were humans.

They´re faces were completely blank (like all of their emotions had been erased),deformed, with mouths wide open, an covered in blood. Some of them had huge wounds in their faces or on other bosyparts. The clothes they were wearing were ragged and dirty and also full of dried blood. They reached their arms out as if they were going to grab us, but the cagedoors stopped them.

„Zombies.", the Doctor gasped. „Real, acutal zombies."

The smell coming from them was incredibly disgusing. I raised my arm to cover my nose and mouth.

„That´s why the sonic didn´t show any lifesigns..", the Doctor said, „they´re dead. Living dead. Undead. Zombies!"

Once I found my speech back again I managed to ask:

„What made them like that?"

The Doctor let go of my hand and took out the sonic screwdriver again.

I was pretty sure this all was just a bad dream and I was about to wake up any second now, safe and sound in my bed and my boyfriend would have brought me breakfast.

But the familiar sound of the screwdriver called me back to reality again.

„I think it´s a virus.", the time lord said.

„A virus?"

„Yes. There´s something in their DNA that the sonic screwdriver can´t recognize, but he detected a desease, something unknown yet."

Still I couldn´t really think of something to say about the situation or even think properly. This was just so unbelievable. This was one of the things I thought would only be happening in comics, books, movies or video games, but never in real life.

Suddenly the Doctor grabbed my wrist again and dragged me a few meters away from the cages.

„What are you doing?"

„We don´t know how its transmitted, so better stay away from them."

I paled. What if I just had to breath in some of their bacteria or something ant then turned into a creature like them?

The Doctor seemed to have the same thought and soniced us both.

„No signs of the unknown thing.", he said with a look of relief.

„We have to find out who´s responsible for this."

„I already waited for you to say that.", I said and couldn´t stop me from grinning at him (which actually felt a bit absrud considered to what we just found) and he smiled back.

„Come on then!"

He turned in his heels and started walking the surroundings without even knowing what he was looking for. He did that quite often.

Since I couldn´t stand the noise or the smell of the creatures in the cages I decide to help him.

„Hey! I found something!"

I turned my head and found the Doctor standing about 5 meters away from me, pointing at the floor.

As soon as I got to him he soniced the floor. Then I saw that it wasn´t actually floor. It was a trap door.

„Where do you think this is leading to?", I asked as I helped him to open it.

„I don´t know, but it´s not really a trap door. Look, stairs."

We were looking into a tunnel that reached into the earth. Since there wasn´t any light down there we couldn´t see the end of the stairs.

„Let´s see where this is leading to."

With a swing of his wirst he turned the familiar green light of the sonic screwdriver into a bright light one, so it could be used as a torch.

„I´ll go first, God knows what´s down there."

I protested.

„You can´t just leave me here!"

„I won´t! I just want to check if it´s safe down there then you can come too! If I don´t get back in an hour get some help."

I crossed my arms over my chest.

„I won´t let you go in there alone you might need someone!"

„I don´t need you to protect me!"

„And I don´t want you to protect me by risking your own life!"

Angrily I glared at him. We´ve been travelling for a while now and he knows how much I hate it to be left behind.

For a moment he just looked at me. Then he finally agreed.

„Okay, fine.", he said with quite an effort.

„But don´t blame me if you get eaten up! Or blown up! Or shot! Or.."

„Alright, I get it!", I interruptet him, „Let´s go!"

„Right then.", he murmured and started walking down the stairs and into the darkness.

+3+

Beneath the earth

The stairs led us about 20 meters beneath the earth before they ended and we were faced with a metal door.

„It looks like a bunker." I said.

The Doctor nodded and checked the door with his screwdriver.

Then he turned around and looked at me.

„Listen, I don´t know what or who we are going to find, but I´m asking you now what I always ask: don´t wander off! Stay close to me, don´t explore anything on your own and don´t let anyone convince you to follow them without me. I am pretty sure we have found something we really shouldn´t and whoever is responsible for it won´t like that." He looked at me, having his worried face on.

„I promise.", I just said. It felt a bit uncomfortable to know that there clearly was danger coming, but not to know in what form or which face it would wear.

„Good.", he said with a small smile and turned to unlock the door.

I tried my best to hide my fear (like always), but I couldn´t stop my body from slightly trembling. The door revealed a floor, really long and really dark. Everything was made of concrete, the walls the floor and the ceiling.

We slowly moved on and when the door behind us thunked shut the Doctor changed the light of the sonic screwdriver to white again.

A scream escaped me as the bright light revealed three figures were standing in the dark. Three man were standing in front of us. One was really tall (about

2 meters), young and had dark skin and short dark hair. The one in the middle was wearing a beard and long hair which he put together in a ponytail. He was about 55 and most of his hair was already grey. The third one was very young, about 18 with a trained shape, blonde hair, blue eyes and a baby face.

All of them wore normal clothes, a jeans and a shirt and all of them had their guns pointed at us.

The Doctor gasped and immediatley raised his arms.

„Please don´t shoot!"

I did the same.

The beardy one took his eyes off me and turned his head a bit to look at the Doctor.

„Who are you and how did you get in?"

The Doctor answered him.

„I´m the Doctor and this is my friend Ena, we got lost in the forest and... just got here."

The beardy one took a step forward.

„How did you get in?"

„Well, we used the gates..."  
„The gates and doors are always locked!", the man interrupted the time lord and took another step closer. I swallowed nervously.

The Doctor smiled.

„I´ve got some tricks.", he simply said.

„The Doctor, mhh?", the beardy one growled now standing right in front of the Doctor so he could place his gun on the aliens forhehead.

I could see him swallow nervously and moving his fingers like he always does when he´s excited or nervous.

„Doctor who?"

„Just the Doctor."

For a moment Beardy just stared at him and he grabbed the screwdriver and ripped it out of the Doctor´s hand.

„Hey! That´s really rude!", the Doctor revolted, but fell silent when the gun was back against his head.

„What´s that? Is it a weapon?"

„No, it´s a screwdriver, a sonic screwdriver."

„Really? What would you need that for?"

The Doctor hesitated before he answered.

„It can open doors."

„Ah, that´s how you got in, then." Beardy smiled and passed the sonic screwdriver to the younger one and told the tall one to search me for weapons.

„Don´t you touch her!"

„Shut up!", and the gun was back.

I felt a bit umcomfortable, but I let it happen. The giant took my bag from me which was still hanging around my shoulders (I wondered how I managed not to loose it in the river).

„No weapons.", he reported when he had finished seachring me and had checked my bag. I realized that I had stopped breathing for some reason and took a deep breath in.

„Good.", he turned to talk to the Doctor again.

„You will give him your coat and your waistcoat and let him search you."

I could see the Doctor´s nervousness fading. He hated being treated like that, he hated having a gun pointed at him and he hated having his things taken from him by force. One could see the anger growing inside him.

 _The oncoming storm._

And I was right, when the tall one reached out his hand to take the Doctor´s coat and waistcoat he gave him a killer look. Really, if looks could kill the men would´ve dropped dead in a second. I kind of admired them for not running away.

„What are those creatures above? What happened to them?", he now asked.

„You´re not the one asking questions here." the giant said.

„You better come with us and answer our questions.", the beardy one said and the Doctor opened his mouth, but Beardy interrupted him again.

„Without further talking, please!", he added pointing his gun now at the doctor´s chest.

The Doctors wrenched his hand into fists and I could see that he was trembling

because he had to hold back his anger.

„Why are you always so big on the gun thing?" he said through gritted teeth.

„Shut up now and get moving!"

The young bloke went first, I followed him, then came Giant then the Doctor and then Beardy. We walked about 4 minutes until we reached the end of the corridor and (surprise!) another door.

The young guy unlocked it and led us through. As soon as I passed through the door my jaw dropped open. We were in a huge cave! So huge, that there was a whole village in it! They were lots of huts or little houses built from loam. When we past throught the „streets" we could see something like a market place (except there weren´t any sale booths) and people who were walking around with wheelbarrows to transport food and loam.

I turned my head to catch the Doctor´s eyes, but he didn´t notice. He was looking around with an expression of pure excitement and his anger seemed to have faded for now.

We walked through the village and reached the other end of the cave. It was impressive. You could see the front of a big house, really huge, and it seemed to be built inside the cave's wall! It looked like a guildhall.

This whole place was unbelievable and I could see the Doctor was pretty amazed too.

They led us inside the building and once we were inside I realized that I had been right, it was some kind of guildhall, since there were signs pointing to the „mayor's office" or the „department for goods" and the „department for food products".

We walked some corridors until we reached the „investigation area" as the sign on the wall told us.

 _Great._

The young guy opened one of the doors and held it open for me.

„In here, please.", he said.

Considering the gun pointed at me I followed his instrunction and entered the room.

The Doctor intended to follow me, but he was stopped by the giant´s arm on his shoulder.

„No.", he simply said.

The Doctor´s nervousness came back within a second and he licked his lips.

I took a step forward, but was stopped by the young one´s gun.

 _They´re going to seperate us._

The Doctor tried to get out of the giant´s grip. I felt panic rise inside me as I remembered the Doctor´s words.

 _Stay close to me._

I took another step forward, but this time the beardy one´s voice stopped me from getting out.

„Stay were you are!" The young guy still pointed his gun on me and intended to close the door.

The Doctor really started struggling now.

„Let go off me!"

I could see the men grabbing his arms and drag him away and before I even reached the door it was closed and locked.

„Doctor!"

I slammed my fist against the door.

„Great..."

I tried not to panic, but it didn´t work, a few tears escaped my eyes and I was shaking before I got myself together again and tried to calm down.

Looking around I found that the room only had a table and two chairs, nothing else.

 _Definetly made for questioning._

I really hoped they wouldn´t have too much questions.

I winced as the door flung open and my pulse was incedibly fast. The beardy one walked in.

„Hey, there.", he said „I´m Pete."

I didn´t say anything.

„Sit down, please."

„Where is he?"

He closed the door and smiled.

„He´s fine and unharmed. He´s in a room like this and will also be answering some questions. Or, at least, I hope he will. Oh, and unharmed except the fact we had to cuff him to his chair."

„What?!"

„Well, he kept struggeling."

„Don´t you dare.."  
„Sit. Down."

I decided to follow the instruction. His voice didn´t sound very patient and he was still carrying a gun.

He put a small recorder on the table and pressed a button.

„Let´s start then, shall we?", he smiled and it reminded of my grandpa in some strange way.

„We´ve found some passports in your bag.", he started.

„Is your full name Barbara Verena Wide?"

I nodded.

„Why is he calling you Ena, then?"

„It´s a short form of my second name, don´t really like the first one."

Pete gave me a smile.

„Age?"

I hesitated. I didn´t know if the Doctor hit the right year. Considering the way the city looked like we most likely ended up in the future. But how far in the future?

If I would tell my age and we were like 50 years or something in the future they would ask me how I could still look that young when I actually should be 80 or something. On the other hand time travel could be a normal routine by now. I hated not to know in which year we´ve landed! So, I decided to answer him honestly, because they´d find out anyway.

„23."

Pete chuckled.

„Okay. Well, your passport says your born in December 1991. So you should be 46 by now, turning 47."

 _2038 then._

„Yeah."

„Why you´re not 46?", he asked now with a curious grin on his face.

I sighed.

„Time travel."

He stared at me for a second.

„Wow.", he said." never met anyone who´s done it."

„It´s very interesting.", I replied.

„How are you doing it?"

He smiled when I just stared at him, not answering.

„You´re not doing yourself any good by not answering."

„Well, he´s got a time machine."

„What kind of time machine and where is it?"

Silence.

„I´m pretty sure he´ll tell us."

I giggled.

„Oh, I wouldn´t be, he can be very stubborn."

„I can imagine that. Well then, let´s go on."

„You´re from London?"

„Yes."

„Are you married?"

„No."

„Is the Doctor your partner?"

I almost laughed at this question.

„No."

„Are you related?"

„Also, no."

„What´s the doctors real name."

„I don´t know."

„you don´t know?", Pete laughed. „You´re time travelling with a man in a bow tie and a purple coat and you don´t even know his name?"

„No."

Pete stopped laughing when he realized that I was being serious.

„You just know him as ´the Doctor´?"

„Yep. That´s all, just´he Doctor´."

Pete gave me a weird look.

„You´re time travelling with a stranger?"  
„No, although I don´t know his name he´s still a friend and that´s all I need to know."

Pete just looked at me fort some time before he got back to the questioning again.

„Why are you here?"

„We wanted to spend a day in Atlanta, but the Doctor must have hit the wrong time line, so we ended up in a future Atlanta and almost got shot by the military, then we found your monsters up there and in the end ended up here with you."

Pete couldn´t stop a grin.

„You´re from the past, then? You said you´re 23, so it´s 2015 where you came from?"

„Yes."

„You don´t know why the military tried to shoot you?"

„No, we just were lucky enough to escape them."

Pete nodded and looked down on his hands.

„Does the military have your time machine?"

„No. It has an emergency programm and it disappeared."

„You don´t know where the machine is?"  
„No."

Pete sighed.

„Okay, how did you get in?"

„You took the sonic screwdriver from him.", I simply said.

„That thing with the green light at the end? I thought he was joking when he said it can open doors."

„No, it really can."

„Then why are you here.

„It was more like an accident. We landed on this broken bridge and the soldiers started shooting at us, then our ship disappeared and we pretty much didn´t have another choice but jumping."

„Oh, I see. The river brought you here that´s why your clothes were wet."

I gave a nod.

„Right then, do you have a job?"

„Medical secretary."

„Good, so you know how a blood withdrawal is done."

„Yes, why?"

„You already mentioned the things in the cages.", he said, „I will sent in a doctor who will take your blood to run some test on it."

I gave him a questioning look.

„Everyone who somehow manages to get in here has to go through the same procedure. First, we run blood test to make sure you´re no infected."

 _Infected. So, the Doctor was right when he suggested it could be a virus._

„If the blood tests are okay you will get a room where you can have a shower and rest until the mayor is ready to see you."

„The mayor?"

„Yes, the mayor. He will decide if you´re allowed to stay or not."

„If the blood test is not okay, or the mayor decides he doesn´t want us here, what happens then?"

Pete didn´t say anything, he just looked down on his gun and I nodded, a shiver running down my spine.

„I see."

 _Very assuring._

Then, it him me. If they were running blood tests on us they´d find out the Doctor was not human at all! His blood looked different, there was no way they wouldn´t notice that! How would they react to an alien?

I got even more nervous at those thoughts, but there wasn´t a thing I could do right now.

Pete stood up.

„I´ll send in doctor Rhymes now."

Then he walked out.

 _ **The Doctor**_

 **The Doctor looked up as the door opened.**

 **The two men from earlier walked in. The beardy one sat down on the chair in front of the Doctor and the dark skinned, tall one, closed the door, crossing the room to stand next to the aliens´ chair.**

„ **I am Pete, this is Duncan.", the beardy one said while putting a recorder on the table.**

„ **We´re going to ask you some questions."**

 **The Doctor just smiled at him. His hands were cuffed behind his back and fastened to the chair on which he was sitting. Also one of his braces had come undone while he was struggling.**

„ **What´s your name?"**

„ **I already told you my name.", the Doctor answered, still smiling. „Where´s my friend?"**

„ **She´s safe, we just finished her investigation. We´re going to ask you the same questions. So, again. What´s your name?"**

„ **I already told you." The time lords voice was dark and he gave Pete a hateful gaze.**

„ **No, you said that you´re the Doctor.", Pete said like he was talking to a little child to which he was explaining how talking works. „Also, you didn´t have any papers with you."**

 **The Doctor wondered why the psychic paper didn´t work on them they must have found it in his coat. Then he realized that he propably lost it in the river.**

„ **I propably lost them."**

„ **Okay, but I still don´t know your name."**

„ **People call me the Doctor that´s all you need to know.", he Doctor hissed.**

„ **We´ll see if that´s enough.", Pete said and asked the next question.**

„ **Age?"**

 **The Doctor laughed causing Pete to look irritated.**

„ **You wouldn´t believe me."**

 **Duncan sighed.**

„ **Just answer his question."**

„ **I´m over 1200 years old."**

 **Now, Pete and Duncan laughed too.**

„ **You like being funny?", Pete chuckled, „No, seriously now, what´s your age and birthdate?"**

 **The Doctor´s smile was back and he answered in a calm voice.**

„ **No, yes, seriously, I´m more than 1200 years old. One gets a bit confused about the exact age when one´s a time traveller."**

 **Pete just stared at him, so did Duncan.**

„ **You´re 1200 years old?", Duncan gasped, „but you don´t look a day older than 30."**

„ **Thanks.", the alien just smiled.**

 **Pete still stared at him.**

„ **Are you..?" For some reason he seemed not to be able to finish the question so the time lord did for him.**

„ **Human? No."**

 **This statement was followed by more staring.**

 **Pete was the first who got his voice back.**

„ **You´re an alien?"**

„ **Yes."**

 **Duncan looked like he´d seen a ghost.**

„ **A real, proper, alien?"**

„ **Yes, real and proper."**

 **They looked at each other and started laughung like two schoolboys who just found out a secret about one of their schoolmates.**

„ **That´s awesome! I´ve never seen an alien!"**

„ **Well, here I am."**

 **Pete suddenly went serious again.**

„ **Okay, we should finish this."**

„ **Your friend told me you´re not a couple or related, is that true?"  
You could still see the excitement in the mens eyes.**

„ **Yep."**

„ **Right, she also told me your time travel machine got lost when you were confronted with the soldiers."**

„ **Yeah, had a bit of trouble with them, they were trying to shoot us, so we jumped off that bridge and into the river. Then we landed here and found you and your village, nice village by the way, a village in a cave, lovely really. Oh, and of course we found the cages and the creatures within.", the Doctor stopped his babbling and got back to his dark voice again.**

„ **By the way, what are they? Humans, I know, but how did they get changed?"**

 **The excited expressions on the mens faces disappeared.**

„ **We don´t know.", was the short answer.**

„ **What kind of doctor are you and do you have a job?"**

„ **Sort of everything, I suppose. And no,I don´t have a real job."**

„ **You´re a doctor for everything?", Duncan asked.**

„ **Whatever.", Pete sighed.**

„ **I´ll explain the security procedure to you now."**

„ **Oh, nice you have security."**

 **The time lord earned an annyoed gaze from Pete.**

„ **We´ll run blood test on you, to see if you are infected. If not you´ll be going to see the mayor. If you are infected you et executed."**

„ **Oh, not nice."**

„ **The mayor will decide if you can stay."**

„ **What if he doesn´t want us to stay?"**

„ **You get executed."**

„ **Oh, really not nice."**

 **Pete stood up and came around the table.**

„ **So, who´s the mayor?", the Doctor asked while Pete was searching his pockets.**

„ **Just the mayor of our little community.", Duncan answered. „He´s a nice guy I don´t think he´ll let you get executed."**

„ **Well that´s good to hear."**

„ **Okay", Pete started when he had found what he was looking for „I´m gonna take the handcuffs off you if you promise not to kick me again."**

„ **Yeah, of course, sorry."**

 **Keeping his promise, the man opened the cuffs and the Doctor rubbed his wrists.**

„ **That´s much better, thank you."**

„ **I´m sorry if we frightened you that much, it´s part of the security procedure to make intrudors talk."**

„ **Do you have many introdurs.", the Docor asked, fastening his brace again and**

 **fixing his bowtie.**

„ **No, as you have seen the gates and doors are locked very carefully."**

„ **Are there more of those zombie-creatures then?"**

 **Pete didn´t answer and went back around to table to open the door.**

„ **We´ll send in Dr. Rhymes now, he´ll take your blood and then we´ll have to wait for the results.**

 **The Doctor jsut nodded and watched as both of the men left the room.**

 **Five minutes later the door opened again and an older man, around 60, walked in. His hair was grey and he had a litte potbelly.**

„ **Hello.", the man said, obviously excited to see him. „I´m doctor Andrew Rhymes."**

 **The Doctor smiled and shook the other doctor´s hand.**

„ **Pete and Duncan told me about you, oh, I´m so excited.", he babbled while opening the little box he was carrying.**

„ **You´re an alien."**

„ **Yes, I am."**

„ **You´re the Doctor, you are a time lord."**

 **The Doctor´s smile vanished for a second. He had erased himself from history only very few people still knew about his existence.**

 **Dr. Rhymes lowered his voice a bit before he continued talking.**

„ **I was working for Torchwood, 30 years ago." He said digging into his box.**

„ **Torchwood?"**

 **The Doctor´s smile was gone now.**

„ **Yes, but only because my father wanted me too. I left as soon as he had died. Went to university to study medicine. I hated Torchwood."**

 **And the smile came back again.**

„ **So, you know who I am?"**

 **Dr. Rhymes started to place everything he needed on the table.**

„ **Yes, of course and I think you just are what we needed."**

„ **I´m sorry?"**

 **Dr. Rhymes came around the table.**

„ **You saw those things in the cages didn´t you?"**

„ **Yes, we saw them."**

„ **Well, maybe you can help us to solve what happened to them? Please, roll up your sleeve."**

 **The Doctor did as he was told.**

„ **Pete said you don´t know how people get infected."**

„ **No, we don´t, but the mayor will explain everything to you later. If you´re not infected of course."**

 **The man fastened a tourniquet around the time lord´s upper arm.**

„ **You´ll be getting a room it the test results are fine, so you can take a shower and get some rest until the mayor is ready to see you."**

„ **Who is he? That mayor?"**

 **Rhymes laughed.**

„ **Well, he´s the mayor, our community needed someone to lead us and we chose him."**

„ **By the way, what is this place? Did you build it?"**

„ **No, I found it by accident. I think it´s an alien village.", he smiled, placing the needle above the Doctor´s skin.**

„ **Yeah, I heard about something like this before, but I can´t remember it."**

„ **If you remember it, will you tell me? I´d love to know."**

 **The Doctor smiled.  
„Yes, I will."**

 **The neddle went in.**

„ **Ouch!"**

„ **Sorry. I have never been really good at this. When I had my doctor´s surgery in Atlanta I always sent my medical secretaries to do blood withdrawals."**

 **He laughed a bit.**

 **The Doctor watched as his blood made it´s way into the tube.**

„ **My friend is a medical secritary."**

„ **Yeah, I met her.", Dr. Rhymes said while he unfastened the tourniquet. „Nice girl I´m sure she´s better at this.", he laughed.**

„ **Right, that´s it."**

 **The needle was pulled out and the Doctor was handed a hankerchief to wipe away the last blood drops.**

„ **Now, all we can to is wait for the results."**

„ **Patience has never been a strength of mine.", the Doctor said while pulling down his sleeve.**

„ **Oh, don´t worry the tests don´t have a long running time, I´ll have the result in under 30 minutes."**

„ **You´be got a laboratory down here?"**

 **The other doctor waved this aside. „It´s not worth mentioning. Well, then, see you later, doctor."**

 **He shook his hand again and left the room.**

„Congratulations.", Pete said as he strolled into the room. „You´re negative."

„Oh, good." I said.

He held the door open and gave me a sign to come with him.

„I´ll take you to your room."  
„I have a room?"

„Yes, both of you will get to take a shower and some sleep before meeting the mayor."

„Uhm.. okay." I stood up and walked out into the corridor. Pete closed the door and instructed me to follow him.

„Are we prisoners?"

Pete laughed.

„Well, kind of, I suppose. We need to know if we can really trust you before we let you walk around here on your own."

„And that´s what the mayor is going to decide? If he can trust us?"

„Yep."

We walked a few corridors and it was pretty hard for me to remember where we started from

„Here it is.", Pete said and led me into a small room. There was a bed on the opposite side to the door and a small wardrobe on the wall at the end of the bed. Also there was a chair in one corner and another door which propably led to a toilet.

„The door to the left is a bathroom. You can take a shower if you want and have some fresh clothes. I think size 6 is ok for you?"

I nodded. They had placed some clothes on the chair to my right.

„Okay, then, I´m leaving now. Please stay in here until we pick you up."

„Okay."

„Your friend will be here soon too."

With that he left the room.

Okay, so we are in a village beneath the earth, we saw zombies and almost got shot by the military which actually led us here. What was going on? Was this really a zombie apocalypse? Something like „The Walking Dead"?

And what were Pete and the others? Police? Also military? And who was that mayor? What were they going to do to us? I decided to talk this through with the Doctor.

Since my clothes were still wet and also full of dirt, I decided to accept the offer of taking a shower. I checked the clothes on the chair. It was a basic, slim jeans and a black hoodie, they also had given me underwear and socks.

I showered and dressed up before lying down on the bed. There was no window in this room (which would have been unnessecary anyway since we were beneath the earth) so I just stared at the ceiling.

Although I was terribly exhausted I couldn´t bring myself to sleep. There were too many things going on in my mind and also the Doctor wasn´t here.

After what seemed like an eternity the door opened again and Pete popped in to put some new clothes on the chair. He showed me a basic white shirt.

„Do you think this size is okay for your friend?"

I just nodded and Pete placed it on the chair as well before disappearing again.

Less then five minutes later the door opened again and the Doctor walked in. I jumped off the bed.

„Hello.", he said.

„Hey."

He took a few steps and hugged me before letting go again and turning me around.

„Are you alright?", he asked, searching for bruises.

„Yes, yes, I´m fine.", I said and stopped him from circling me around.

„You?"

„Yes, me too.", he replied.

„You look different.", he suddenly said.

„What? Oh, yes. I took a shower and they gave me fresh clothes."

I went to the chair.

„They brought some for you too." I gave him the clothes.

„I´m fine with my clothes."

„Doctor, they´re wet and full of dirt."

He looked down. His trousers were full of mud, his coat (which he got back from Pete) was covered in dirt and everything else was still wet.

„Yeah, you´re propably right.", he said. „Give me five minutes."

While he was in the bathroom I sat down on the edge of the bed.

I was a bit impatient, I needed to talk to him!

When he finally came out I just stared at him. The basic white shirt and the jeans looked totally strange on him. He placed his own clothes on the chair.

„What´s wrong?"

„You look weird."

„Thanks."

I laughed.

„No, not bad weird. It´s just... well, you look normal. Like you´re a normal young guy."

„I am none of those."

He grinned.

„I know."

„I don´t like it either.", he said, sitting down next to me.

„They´ve taken your blood?"

„Yep."

„Did they notice?"

„Yes, they did. But I told them before the blood test. There wasn´t any sense in lying."

I nodded.

„Dr. Rhymes said he´s been in Torchwood.", I said.

„Yeah, he recognized me. He asked me if I would help them with those creatures."

„Will you?"

He gave me a smile.

„I knew it. Any suggestions?"

The alien sighed.

„Not yet, but I seemed to be right about the virus theory. I´m sure they went down here to protect themselves. I think all we can do now is wait until we can see the mysterious mayor."

I nodded.

„I hate waiting."

„Waiting is boring.", the Doctor added to my statement.

„Yes.", I chuckled.

„I really hope he likes us.", I said a bit worried now.

„Duncan said he´s nice. Also the sonic screwdriver hasn´t found any sign of infection and the results of our bkood tests were fine. So, basically he doesn´t have a reason to execute us."

„Well, I hope so, I don´t want to get shot. We just escaped that."

The Doctor laughed.

„Yeah, we are, and now look at us, again in trouble. I wish Clara would be here."

„Yes, me too."

 _I miss her._

For a moment we fell silent. After some time the Doctor turned his head to look at me.

„You look tired.", he said gently.

„I am.", I confessed.

„You should get some sleep."

I suddenly realized that there was only one bed, but we were two people.

„What about you?"

He stood up and took his clothes from the chair so he could sit on it.

„Alien. I don´t need as much sleep as humans do. Now, sleep well."

„But.."

„Sleep well!"

I decided not to protest and lay down. A few minutes later I fell asleep.

 **+4+**

 **The mayor**

I woke up, because someone was gently pushing on my shoulder.

„Hey, wake up we´re going to meet the mayor."

Grudingly I opened my eyes and blinked aganist the light on the ceiling.

„Do you know the time?", I asked while sitting up.

„7 o´clock in the evening, you´ve slept about two hours."

Feeling a bit dizzy I got up to put on my shoes.

„Pete´s coming to pick us up in two minutes.", the Doctor said and in fact two

minutes later there was a knock at the door.

„Let´s go."

Pete was waiting for us outside. He greeted me with a smile and instructed us to follow him. And again we walked countless corridors and I soon lost orientation. The beardy man took us upstairs and into a corridor to the left where he stopped in front of the second door to the left.

 _Mayor´s office_

 _Arthur Mullet_

I read on the sign next to the door.

„Well, then let´s meet Mr. Mullet.", the Doctor mumbled, so only I could hear him.

Pete knocked at the door and almost immediatley someone behind it asked us to enter.

Pete signalized us to get in. The Doctor went first, I followed and Pete closed the door behind us.

It was quite a huge office. The walls were completely covered with bookshelfs, filled with folders and books. To our right was a sofa made of dark brown leather and to our leftt was a huge wooden desk. A man was leaning against the desk having a curious eye on us.

He was tall, almost as tall as Duncan, brown hair with grey strands in it, he was wearing only black clothes and had bright blue eyes.

His gaze was on the Doctor now.

„Hello, then.", he said in a rough voice. „Take a seat, please."

His smile made me nervous.

„No, thanks.", the Doctor said in his calm voice, „We´ve been sitting around for quite a while now."

If the situation wouldn´t have been that serious I would have grinned at him for this answer.

Mullet just stood there, arms folded, and smiled at us.

„Yes, I can imagine that, I´m sorry it took so long for me to get time for you."

„oh, we all have our business to do, don´t we?", the alien replied.

Mullet, again, just smiled.

„So, I heard you came across the gates and broke into our village?"

„It was more of an accident."

Mullet nodded.

„I heard you had a meeting with the military?"

„Yeah, wasn´t that nice."

„You don´t know why they were shooting at you?"

„We hoped you could explain it to us.", I answered the question.

Mullet shifted his weight a bit.

„I heard the recordings of the investigations. You´re time travellers?"

„Yes."

Mullet laughed.

„That´s amazing! So, they´ll make it one day? Real time machines?"

The Doctor just nodded.

„That´s cool! Okay, sorry I always get distracted."

The mayor now turned his gaze on the Doctor again, curiosity was written all over his face.

„I had a conversation with Dr. Rhymes.", he started, „you´re an alien, a Time Lord, to be precise. Is that true?"

„Yes."

„He also mentioned that you could propably be the man we just needed and help us with the problem above."

It was obvious that he was talking about that zombie creatures.

„So, here´s the deal: You´ll help us find out what made them like this and how we can protect ourselves against it and we´ll let you stay here without asking further questions. You´re ship is gone from what I´ve heard and I´m sure you don´t want to spend the night up there?"

The Doctor just stared at him.

„Was that a threat?"

„No, it´s an offer. If you don´t want to help us and stay that´s fine I won´t give an order to execute you, because that won´t be necessary. You wouldn´t survive with those things above anyway."

„Oh, that´s nice." it escaped my mouth, but the Doctor silenced me by rising his hand.

„Right, then. I´m going to help, but I need information.", the Doctor stated.

„What are they? Humans, I know, but what do you know about how they get turned?"

Mullet´s smile vanished and his expression got serious.

„To be honest we don´t know much about it. Dr. Rhymes said it could be an alien virus, but we haven´t found out how people get infected with it."

„Wait, then it´s not like in books or movies?", I asked. „They don´t infect you when you get bitten?"

„No. Some of us got hurt while fighting them but none of these people got infected."

„A virus that doesn´t seem to spread, interesting. Never heard of anything like that before.", the Doctor said. I could see the excitement in his eyes. There was something new to the Doctor and it needed solving.

„When did you first hear about it?"

„Well, about 5 years ago, I think."

„5 Years? Since then you´re down here?" I was shocked.

„Almost. Dr. Rhymes found this village and we installed the fences around it."

„You _found_ it?", I asked, „But who built it?"

„It´s an alien village.", the Doctor stated. „I´ve heard of places like this before, but I couldn´t remember it properly until right now."

He paused and started to walk around in the room.

„It´s a comubian village."

„Comubian?"

„Comubes. A very rare species that lives in the most far behind places of the universe. „

„But, if they live this isolated, what did they want here?", getting confused had turned into some kind of daily routine.

The Doctor snapped his finger and pointed right at me.

"Very good question! Answer?", he pointed to Mullet now.

„Maybe they crashed around here?", Mullet suggested.

„Possible, most likely even, yes, I think they´ve crashed."

„But where´s the ship then?"

„They have propably left it behind and went to find a place where they can live. They live in villages like this, also they are very good at not being seen. For a very long time my people thought they were just a legend, until one of the scientists found a village like this in a very far away corner of the universe. And they are very hospitaly guys, comubes."

Something didn´t seem to fit here.

„But if they crashed, why didn´t they just sent a distrass signal?"

„Again, very good question! The answer is pretty simple. Or better to be said the possible answers, since they are only suggestions. Theory number one: They couldn´t sent one just because of the fact their communication system broke during the crash. Theory number two: The signal wasn´t strong enough and also got debilitated by earth´s atmosphere. Theory number three, which I think is nonsense, bit still it´s a theory: They sent the signal, but noone came."

 _You would have helped._

The Doctor was walking in circles now, gesturing around with his hands and a thoughtful expression on his face.

„But why would they get so far away from home?"

 _Another riddle that needs solving._

„And where are they now? Didn´t you see them when you found that village?", I turned and looked at the mayor now.

„No. When we came we searched everywhere for signs of living beings but we couldn´t find anything."

The Doctor sighed.

„It´s their virus.", he stated." A comubian virus. It propably killed them, but has different effects on humans, also this could be the reason why it doesn´t spread like other diseases."

„But it still doesn´t explain how anyone ever got infected.", I threw in.

„Also, if they are dead why didn´t they found any remains? Bones or something?"

The Time Lord looked at me.

„They´re aliens."

 _Of course._

„They don´t have bones! If they die anything will be rottened and nothing will be left!"

„Exactly. Their bodies basically consits of a jelly-like matter in various colors. They can change colour and they can change into transparence."

„So they can´t be seen.", Mullet pointed out.

„I wish I could to that.", I added admiringly.

„You´re far too loud anyone would notice you immediatly,"

„Thanks.", I hissed to the Doctor.

„Okay, so Ena already stated a very important point. Who was patient zero and how did he or she got infected?"

Thoughtfully the mayor stroked his chin before he replied:

„The first case I heard about was a little girl in Rainbow city, they were talking about in the news. Then there were also cases of animals with the same behaviour."

I thought the Doctor´s expression couldn´t get more curious, but I was wrong. As soon´as Mullet had mentioned the animals it was like someone had given him an injection with adrenaline.

„Animals? Where?"

„I don´t know exactly where, but they were trying to eat members of their own species like cows ate other cows and dogs ate other.."

„Yes, I get it!", the Doctor interrupted.

„Scientists all over the world tried to solve the riddle of that virus, but noone ever found something useful."

The Time Lord growled.

„I wish I could do an examination on my own!"

„You can."; Mullet said, „Or, at least, you an have a laboratory and a body of one of the creatures."

„How did you kill them?"

„You´ve got a laboratory?"

The Doctor and I asked at the same time and then looked at each other, grinning.

„Killing them is easy, it´s a cliché."

„So, its the head then.", I stated and Mullet nodded.

„Dr. Rhymes has a small laboratory down here since he was working on solving this himself. I don´t know if it´s what you´ll need, but it´s anything we´ve got."

„Can I use it?"

„I´m sure Dr. Rhymes won´t be against it and will also be givging you a hand, but I won´t ask him today. He´s been working all day and just went to get some sleep."

„He´s working on this every day, isn´t he?", I asked. „I mean on finding out more about that virus."

„Yes, he his. He´s exhausted now, so you´ll have to wait until tomorrow."

„"That´s fine..", the Doctor said with a smile.

„Good."  
The mayor got moving and went to the dor.

„You´re dismissed now, you should get some sleep before tomorrow comes, Dr. Rhymes prefers to get up very early in the mornings. Is there anything you need right now?"

„Yeah, my sonic screwdriver. Would be nice to get it back."

„And my bag.", I added.

Mullet nodded and opened the door, where Pete was still waiting outside.

„Bring them back to their room, give them their stuff back and make sure their clothes get washed and dried."

Pete just nodded and signalized us to follow him.

Before we went Mullet shook the Doctor´s hand.

„I´m glad you stranded here, I hope you can help us."

„I´ll be trying my best."

Back in the room I was sitting on the bed, watching the Doctor who was sitting on the chair, arms folded and legs crossed.

Clearly he was lost in his thoughts, but then he looked at me.

„Something´s missing.", he said, „I am missing something."

Because I didn´t know what to reply to this I remained silent.

Again his expression was thoughtfull he looked a bit stressed and had furrowed his brows. Looking at him I noticed how tired he looked.

„When did you get some sleep last time?"

„Mh?", he looked up, obviously he hadn´t quite heard the question because he was sunken in his thoughts.

„Sleep? When did you last get some sleep?", I repeated.

„I don´t know..", he rubbed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. „It´s been a while."

„Then lay down.", I jumped off the bad and gestured to him to lay down.

„No."

„Why not?" I was standing right in front of him now.

„Look at you, you look exhausted.", I said gently. „You´ll need to have a fresh mind tomorrow."

„I can´t sleep right now, there´s so much stuff in my head going on.."

I interrupted him.

„Which you´ll propably get some answers to tomorrow, so come on, get some sleep!"

„Will you stop annoying me sometime?"

„No.", I grinned.

He sighed.

„If it makes you happy!"

He pulled off his shoes and got up to undo his jeans.

Quickly I turned around.

„What are you doing?!"

„Getting ready for bed!"

„You could have warned me at least!"

„About what?"

„Getting undressed!"

I could hear the sheets rustling when he crawled into bed.

„I didn´t undress, I just got out of those jeans!"

I turned around again and found him in the bed.

„Come on, then. Time to sleep!"

„What?"

„Well, you´re human you need more sleep than I do and the two hours you had earlier aren´t barely enough!"

„There´s only one bed."

„Yes, with room for two!"

„Doctor..", I blushed and somehow almost had to laugh.

The expression on his face changed and suddenly he was blushing too, even more than I did, his face turned to a dark red.

„No! Not like that! I wasn´t... I didn´t mean..."

„I´m engaged!", I grinned.

„But, I didn´t... I´m a Time Lord!"

„You´ve got a snog box!"

„It is not a.. oh, don´t listen do Clara!", he yelled, turning even more reddish in the face.

„You invited me into your bed."

I couldn´t stop a little chuckle escaping from my mouth.

„But, not like that! I.. Oh. Shut up!"

Laughing I got to the bed and sat on the edge.

„Sorry, I couldn´t resist on teasing you a bit."

Kicking my shoes off I turned my head to look at him.

„It´s just so funny how you blush so easily on this subject"

He stucked out his tongue at me as an answer.

„Sorry.", I grinned again and got under the blankets, but trying to lay as far away from him as possible. I felt guilty sleeping in the same bed with a man who wasn´t my fianceé, even if this one here was an alien, but still it felt weird. But on the other hand I really didn´t want to sleep on the floor.

„But I´m not doing cuddling!", I stated and gave him a serious look.

„I don´t need cuddling, I am an adult, I´m 1200 years old!", he said defiant and gave me an offended look.

I laughed.

„Good night, Doctor."

„Good night, Ena."

 **+5+**

 **Neil**

I woke up, because of a crashing sound in the room. With a gasp I shot up and sat upright in the bed. The room was dark and I turned on the light on my nightable, finding the doctor on the floor, halfway in his trousers.

„Ouch!", he struggled to get into his trousers properly.

„Sorry about the noise."

„Why didn´t you turn on the lights?"

„Didn´t want to wake you. Dr. Rhymes has already been here and told me he´s ready."

„I didn´t even notice that."

„Well, you slept like a log.", he smiled, getting into his shoes.

„Until now, sorry about that again."

„It´s okay.", I said and got out of the bed and right into the bathroom. After using the toilet I washed my hands and my face and then got back into the room.

The Doctor was standing by the door, waiting for me.

„Okay, ready.", I said when I was done with putting my shoes on.

„I don´t want you to come with me.", the Time Lord suddenly stated. I wanted to protest, but he raised his hand and I stayed silent.

„I want you to look around a bit. Take a walk in the village and see if you find anything unusual."

„You mean except the fact we´re having a zombie apocalypse and that this town is beneath the earth?"

„Exactly!"

„Okay..."

 _You told me to stay with you and not explore things on my own._

„I know what I told you.", he said like he could read my mind.

 _Oh._

„Stop doing that!"

„Then stop thinking so loud! Listen, there´s something I´m missing, just go and have a look around okay?"

„Okay."

„Good.", he smiled.

As we walked through the corridors to get out of the guildhall I couldn´t help to admire the Doctor for his sense of orientation.

I´d never find a way out of this labyrinth of corridors and doors without him or

Pete or Duncan.

A few moments later we were standing on the frontstairs.

„Right then, see you later.", the Doctor waved and went off to the left.

„Yeah."

 _Okay, where do I start?_

I decided to turn right and walk a big circle alongside the cave´s walls and then explore the inside of the village later.

As soon as I walked away from the stairs I heard a voice behind be.

„Hey!"

It was the young boy who had been with Pete and Duncan, he came down the stairs.

„Hi.", I simply said.

„Do you want me to show you ´round?"

 _I´d rather be on my own._

„I´m Neil.", he said with a smile and showed his perfect white teeth.

„Ena. And yes, that would be nice!", I smiled.

I feared it would cause distrust if I´d turned down his offer.

„Good!"

He started walking and I just walked beside him.

„It´s called _Esperanza._ "

The confusion on my face made him laugh.

„The village.", he added.

„Oh", I said, „The spanish word for hope."

A surprised look appeared on his face.

„Do you speak it?"

„Oh, no. I learned it in school, but that was seven years ago! Or at least for me it was seven years, from here it would be twentytwo. Hell, that´s almost my age!"

I stopped babbling when I met Neil´s curious gaze.

„So, it´s true what Pete said? You´re time travellers?"

„Yes, we are."

He gestured wildely with his hands, showing off. his excitement.

„That´s so cool! So you´ve been in the past too?"

„Yes."

„Wow! That must be so interesting!"

„Yes, it is.", I smiled.

„What was the best thing you´ve seen yet?", he asked.

„Uhm... I don´t really know..", I said, „All of it was great. But, if I had to choose one I know what I´d choose."

„And what´s that?"

„Oh, it will bore you.", I laughed. „It wasn´t even in space, it was here on earth and it was a very normal thing."

„I still want to hear it.", he gave me an assuring smile.

„He took me to a concert of _Queen_ at the Wembley Stadium. I was born in 1991, so I had no chance in seeing them live with Freddie Mercury as the lead singer."

„I love _Queen._ ", Neil stated. „I found some old CD`s in one of the houses that were left behind when all this started. Unfortunately, we have to be very economical with electricity down here, so I´m not allowed to use a CD player anymore."

He added with a sad smile: „I miss music."

„I see."

We walked through the little streets of the village and now and then I could see some faces staring through the windows of the cabins. Families, children and their parents, were watching us while we took a walk. The news of the arrival of two strangers must have spread here very fast.

I had to think of what Mullet said and the fact that these people lived here for more or less five years.

„How old are you, Neil?", I asked.

„I´m twenty.", came the quick answer.

„You look younger."

„So do you."

I laughed.

„Yeah, most people don´t give me twentythree years."

„It will be good for you when you´re older.", he said with a wink.

„Yes, definitely!"

Neil suddenly stopped infront of a house. From what I had seen so far there was nothing unsual about this village, well, considered the circumstances.

The fact that I didn´t really know what I was actually looking for didn´t make things any easier.

The building we were standing in front of was painted white with a big red cross above the front door.

„Is that Dr. Rhymes´ doctor´s office?"

Neil nodded, making his blonde curls jump with the movement.

„He also has his laboratory inside it, where he is now, together with your friend. He tried for so long to find out anyhting about that virus. People everywhere were studying on it, but noone ever found out enough to tell what it actually is and how it turns people."

„Why do you keep some of them in those cages?"

I was curious about that fact.

„It´s a warning. They´re not completely stupid. They can climb up things, open doors and avoid traps. We sent up patrols every two hours in case one of them managed to get over the fence."

He started walking again and I followed.

„Then there is some trace of intelligence left."

„Yes."

For a while we just kept walking in silence. I had noticed that the light that was coming from the ceiling wasn´t electric. The people here had build columns made of loam with a platform on their end and ladders to get up. On the platforms themselves they had constructed litte stikes and had inflamed them. There were about twenty of those appliances to light up the whole cave.

 _Huge torches!_

The cave itself was very high and of brown stone, almost like the colour of copper.

Neil stopped again in front of...

„A well!"

„Yes."

„So, this is where you get your water from."

„Exactly. It´s the reason we can still have a shower.", Neil laughed.

„Dr. Rhymes installed it.", he continued. „There´s lots of ground water beneath our feet."

„So, you get your water from here, but what about food?"

„Well, most of it comes from hunting. Deer, wild pigs, rabbits, everyhting you can find in a forest. But it´s dangerous because of the infected people. In the centre of the city, where the military is, you can buy food. For example if you give them some of your weapons or if you find something useful and bring it to them they will give you food cards and give you access to the city´s centre. They´ve got special locations where you can swap the cards into food. We try to avoid that option, the military isn´t very friendly these days."

„Why did they shoot at us?"

„Anyone who gets inside the centre has to be accompanied by a member of the military. That´s the sign for the others that you are allowed to be there. Everyone knows that rule. So, if you´re not with a militaryman it means you´re here without permission. „

 _That´s why._

„They thought we might be infected."

„Exactly."

„Okay, I see."

 _Thank god I have a save home without zombies._

„It must be hard."

„Yes." Neil turned his gaze away from me, shadows crossing his face.

A tickle on my neck made me shiver and I turned my head.

„What´s wrong?"

I looked around, a bit confused.

 _Something touched me._

„Nothing, I just thought... I thought something touched me."

„Maybe it was just a breeze. Happens sometimes, because of the crevices in the cave."

 _No, that hasn´t been a breeze._

„Yes, maybe."

I turned my head again, but there was nothing to be seen.

„Actually, there isn´t much more I can show you. It´s a really small community as you´ve seen."

Neil sat down on a bench a few meters from the well, so we were looking to the marketplace-like space in the middle of the village.

He implied me to sit next zu him and I followed his request. There were children running around playing football and laughing. We watched them for a while.

 _What must it be like to grow up like this?_

„Do they know what it´s like up there?", I asked without looking at Neil, keeping my gaze on the children.

„You mean if they know the sunlight or the moonlight and stuff like that?"

„Yes."

„Yes, they do. We sometimes take them with us when we´re hunting. They need to learn it, also we don´t want them to waste away down here. To know what´s it like up there keeps them hoping and hoping keeps them fighting and..."

„Fighting keeps them alive.", I finished his sentence.

„Yes. Have you ever been fighting?"

„No, not like that."

I realized that this was a future that actually was going to happen and that I would still be alive when it would happen. If I survived this adventure, of course.

 _What if I die here?_

„Your friend...", Neil distracted me from my thoughts „the Doctor.. do you.."

He looked at me, worried. His hands clenched the edge of the bench. I tried to give him an assuring look.

„Yes?"

„Do you think, if he doesn´t find out what the virus actually is.. will he leave again?"

„He will find out.", I said and found that I was surprised about the conviction in my voice.

 _I believe in him._

„And he won´t leave until he will."

„But, if he does leave... do you think...do you think he´d take me with him? I mean with you, both of you."

That question sort of took me surprise and didn´t really know how to answer it, so all I got out was:

„I´ll ask him."

He nodded and again we stayed silent for a while. Neil wanted to get away from all this and I really couldn´t blame him. It was what I wanted too. The Doctor would never leave until he had solved this, even if he had the TARDIS. All I could do now was hoping that she´d come back and the Doctor would be fast in solving.

„Listen", I looked into Neil´s eyes, „What I said before.. that he´ll fid out. I propably rushed into that answer. I can´t make any promises, but one: he´ll try his very best." I took a deep breath before I continued "Also, he´s not really the one who gives up that easy that´s for sure, so don´t worry about that. He´ll do everyhting to help you, but that doesn´t necessarily mean he´ll succeed."

Neil only gave me a nod.

Then there was the touch again, this time on my upper arm. My head turned quickly, but again there was nothing.

„You´re okay?"

„Yes, I think it was just some kind of insect."

Neil suddenly stood up.

From the right, where the guildhall was, I could see a group of men heading towards us, I recognized two of them: Pete and Duncan.

„It´s time for the patrol.", Neil said, „It´s safer for you to stay down here. There´s a library in the guildhall if you want to kill some time while waiting for the Doctor."

I gave him a smile.

„Okay, thank you for showing me around."

„You´re welcome."

He jogged around the well and to the small group that was heading to the exit.

Pete waved at me while walking past. I stood up and decided to look around again, this time alone, but I couldn´t find anything, so I decided to go back to the guildhall and find that library.

 **+6+ In the night**

The fireplace next to me flickered and crackled in a relaxing way and I smiled as I turned to the next page of the book I was holding.

Karl May´s _Winnetou_.

Before I had been heading to the library I went to our room where Pete had left some bread for us and ate a bit of it.

It had taken me only a few minutes to find the small library at the end of an corridor in the guildhall. It was very cosy and very beautiful with its huge shelves and the red carpet and old armchairs right in front of the fireplace.

But the relaxing mood was over when I heard the very familiar voice of my alien friend.

„Ena! Look what I´ve got back!", he cheered.

I looked up and saw the Doctor coming in, slightly running. I didn´t have any idea how much time had past, but it must have been some time in the afternoon. He stopped next to my armchair and showed me his sonic screwdriver, looking down on me with a smile. I put the book on the table which was standing between the two armchairs.

„Oh, good! Any news?"

His smile faded.

 _Not good._

The Time Lord went around the table and sat down on the second armchair, elbow on his knees and his chin resting on his palm.

„Unfortunately not. Dr. Rhymes´ lab is remarkable, considering the circumstances, but he doesn´t have the right technology. I still wasn´t able to decode the virus, we´re stuck, not one step further."

 _Definetly not good at all._

He got an unhappy expression on his face. The TARDIS was still gone god-knows-where-to, we almost got shot yesterday and found zombie-creatures who got turned by a virus, but nobody seems to know anything about it. And now not even him had been able to decode the virus, because he didn´t have the right equipment! He was very frustrated and I knew it was going to drive him mad.

„Is there nothing we can do?"

The Doctor shifted and leaned back in his armchair, folding his arms.

„Rhymes mentioned a lab in the centre of Atlanta, it´s abandonnend but still working. There´s only one problem."

„Which is?"

„Although it´s not used anymore it´s property of the military and very close to their base."

„Oh."

The Doctor nodded when he saw that I had understood the problem.

„They won´t let us in, I suppose?"

„No."

„So, what do we do?", I asked, knowing the Doctor had already worked out a plan.

He leaned forward again, a smile formed on his face.

„Are you ready for some plan?"

„Sure!"

„Pete and Duncan will take us to the border and help us to get inside the centre where we will meet a friend of theirs. He will smuggle us inside the lab."

„Aren´t Pete and Duncan coming with us?"

„They said it´s too dangerous. I can´t blame them, you saw the military back then on that bridge, it won´t take them too long to shoot us."

„So, you are suggesting that we get to the borders, crossing them without permission with lots of soldiers around, ready to shoot anyone who´s not allowed to be in, and then meet a stranger who ought smuggle us into the lab, which is also military property, or maybe he´s a psycho and will kill us straight away?!"

„Yep!"

„Well, sounds like a good plan!"

He grinned at me.

„My plans are always good, I´m the king of plans!"

„You´re more like the king of improvisation when it comes to making a plan!"

„Yes, but I´m good at it!", he protested and I had to laugh at his facial expression.

„Stop laughing at me!"

„Sorry. When are we leaving?"

„Sometime after midnight, we´ve got a better chance of not getting caught when it´s dark."

I nodded.

For a while both of us just sat there, staring into the fire. Then I remebered what I was doing in the morning.

„I haven´t found anything."

He turned his gaze to me.

„Sorry?"

„In the village. You told me to look around."

„Oh, yes! Yeah, of yourse, okay, that´s alright, I wasn´t really expecting you to find something."

„Neil, the young blonde guy, was with me, he told me the zombies can avoid traps and stuff like that. Open doors and climbing, you know?"

He simply nodded, staring into the flame again.

„Does that mean there´s some of their awareness left, some intelligence?"

„Some kind of intelligence, I think, yes, but I´m not sure about the awareness part. I don´t think they´re actually aware of what they are and who they´ve been before."

I nodded.

„That´s good in a way, I think."

„Yes, it propably is.", the Doctor said with a sad smile.

The light of the fire caressed his face and added some more light to his already shining eyes. I could see why he sometimes got chased by so many girls when we were travelling.

He was lost in his thoughts and I decided just to leave him and picked up my book again, so we sat and waited for the night to come.

It was only a few minutes after midnight when the Doctor got ready to meet me, Duncan and Pete outside the guildhall. Duncan had spent the last two hours with explaining me the small gun he had given me and showed me how to shoot with it (of course two hours wasn´t enough to teach me how to shoot properly, but at least I knew now how to hold still and not get thrown back by the kickback).

The Doctor and I had left the library about four hours ago, when Arthur Mullet asked us to have dinner with him, Pete and Duncan to talk over the plan one last time. Some of the men had been succesful in hunting and had brought a deer and two wildpigs, a very lucky day for the villagers.

„Are you sure you really want to do this?", Mullet asked while eating.

The five of us were sitting on a small table in Mullet´s office.

„Yes.", the Doctor, who was sitting to Mullet´s right, answered. „I´ve got to find out what´s wrong with that virus, why it doesn´t spread and where it came from, I need to know what exactly it is doing to human bodies and maybe I can even find out how to cure it or at least how to preserve people

from turning."

„Well, it´s your decision if you want to go, but I´ll tell you again: this is a very dangerous mission you´re planning.", Mullet said.

„It could cost you your life.", Pete added.

„Yes, I´m well aware of that, but I´m still going to do it, sometimes risks must be taken. Aslo, I kind of have a talent of getting out alive of this kind of situations.", the alien grinned.

„You mean you, or we, just were extremely lucky every single time.", I mocked him.

The Doctor, to my left, protested:

„No, it´s my incredibly clever plans that keep us alive!"

„Your clever improvisations you mean!"

„Yes! I´m good at improvising, actually I work the best while improvising!"

I grinned.

„Okay, this point goes to you, I have to agree with that."

Pete just grinned at our little teasing.

„Okay, so if we really are doing this... I´ve got a car and Pete and I will take you to the border and show you how to cross it without being seen. On the other side you will meet a friend of ours, Bill, he will help you get inside the lab . He´s very good at smuggling, trust me, once he.."

„Duncan, just go on with the plan.", Pete interrupted him.

„Yeah, sorry. So, Bill will help you get inside, the rest is to you, Doctor. You will find a fully functioning, but abandonnend lab where you can examine the lab samples you and Dr. Rhymes took. It´s absoluteley neccesary that the military won´t notice anything, I suggest it´s best if you use one of the lab rooms in the cellar, it´s the best chance not to get caught. If they see you, they´ll shoot you, or even worse, they´ll capture you and they´ll try to find out who you´re working for."

„That sounds an awful lot like torture...", I said, a bit (a big bit) worried.

„Oh, yes, they love torturing people.", Pete added.

„How nice.", the Doctor stated.

„Okay, you will need something to defend yourselves.", Mullet threw in. „Can you use a gun?"

„No.", both of us said at the same time.

„Well, I actually can use one", the Doctor said „but I won´t. I hate gins, guns are evil, actually I hate every kind of weapon."

„Well, you still might one. You´ve seen what´s out there. It´s impossible to teach you proper shooting in this short time, but I could teach you some basics, like how to unlick it and stuff..", Duncan said.

„We´re not going to shoot anyone!", the Time Lord insisted.

„Doctor, trust us, you´ll really need one.", Mullet said, „just because there is a border it doesn´t mean infected people can´t get into the centre. If they´re attacking you will have no other chance than shooting them! They´re fast and very, very strong!"

„You said the sonic didn´t show any lifesigns, so basically they are already dead.", I suggested.

The Doctor just stared at me.

„And the military", Pete threw in, „they will nit hesistate in shooting you, and what will you do when it´s him or you, letting him shoot you?"

„We will not kill a living being.", the Doctor growled.

Mullet sighed.

„Okay, fine, you´d rather die than shooting him, okay, I don´t really understand, but fine." He turned his body so that he could face the Doctor properly. „But what will you do, when the coice is between a soldier´s life and hers.", he was pointing at me. „Don´t you want her to be able to protect herself?"

The Doctor just stared at him for a moment, then he turned his head and his green eyes met mine. He looked utterly concerned.

„I´ve been thinking anyway.", he said in a soft, very quiet voice.

I knew exactly what he would be saying next.

„Maybe it´s best if you stay here."

 _Bingo!_

„No way!", I said, „this plan is insane and I´m not going to let you do it alone!"

„Ena, this is very dangerous!"

„I know! And I´m afraid, yes I confess that, but still I´m not going to let you do this alone!"

The Doctor sighed in frustration.

„There is no use in pulling an argument, Doctor.", I said, now also in a quiet tone, „I´m coming with you, whether you like it or not."

Again, he sighed. Then he turned to Duncan.

„Alright, give her that gun."

 **+7+ Off to the centre**

When climed through the trap door again we were hit by warm, dry summer air. I was quite thankful for that since I was wearing my dress again (Pete had given us back our normal clothes after the dinner) and my legs and arms were naked and I didn´t wear any socks in my Converse. The Doctor also was back in his normal clothes and I wondered how he managed not to sweat in his purple coat.

„Can I ask you something?", I said while we were walking behind Pete and Duncan, heading for the gates.

„Sure."

„It´s something about you being alien."

He gave a me an amused look.

„Don´t hold yourself back."

„What´s your body temperature?"

„What?"

„Well, everytime you hug me or hold my hand your skin seem pretty cold and now your wearing your coat and you´re not sweating although it´s still very hot."

He chuckled.

„You´re interested in Time Lord anatomy, then?", he asked while we were passing the cages.

„Yeah."

„Well, you´re right my body temperature is way low than yours. A Time Lord´s body temperature is usually around 15 degress Celius."

„Wow, that´s bloody cold compared to us."

He laughed.

„Yes, well it can drop to below-freezing temperatures.", he explained while we were walking through the first gate.

„Now you´re kidding me!"

„No, not at all. Time Lords can slip into a healing coma when badly injured, but not badly enough they would need to regenerate. It causes the body temperature to fall very rapidly."

„A healing coma?"

„Yes, it´s actually good you asked me this questions you might need to know about it one day."

Pete and Duncan were now opening the second gate.

„When in a healing coma a Time Lord appears to be dead.", the Doctor carried on his explaining. „As I already told you the body temperature will fall way far below zero, also one heart will stop beating."

I looked at him shocked.

„But the other one carries on, there will be heart beat around every 10 seconds."

„And it increases the speed of healing wounds?"

„Yes, although it works best if the Time Lord is near or inside his TARDIS."

„Did you use it once?"

„Yes, I did. People thought I was dead, so let´s just hope you´re around when it happens again.", he winked at me.

„Let´s just hope it won´t need to happen again.", I replied.

At that he just smiled at me.

As we got further into the woods I pulled my mobile phone out of my back and put it on. Arthur Mullet had allowed me to charge it in the guildhall since we would need it to call them when we were done to pick us up again.

After entering my pin I noticed that my boyfriend wrote me a message.

 _Where are you? Are you still with the Doctor? Please answer, so I know that you´re fine._

The Doctor noticed I was holding my phone and writing something back.

„Is it Dillon? I bet he´s worried."

„Yes, he is."

„As soon as I´ve got the TARDIS back we can pick him up."

„No, this is too dangerous."

The Doctor raised an (barely existing) eyebrow at me.

„You´re here, too."

„Yes, but we don´t have the TARDIS, so you can´t take me back."

„You could have stayed in the village."

„You might need me."

He just nodded at that. „Yeah, propably. Anyway, when we´ve got the TARDIS back I will drop you on the day we left, he won´t even notice you´ve been gone for long."

I laughed.

„The priorities of a time machine."

 _Don´t worry_ I wrote _I´m fine, I´ll be back soon, I promise. The Doctor´s looking out for me. I love you._

Sent.

„It isn´t far right now, we´ll soon reach the street!", Pete called over his shoulder. We were heading to a small slope right now.

My phone vibrated in my bag.

 _Okay, please take care. And tell him, if something happens to you I will find him! I love you too._

I grinned.

When we had reached the slop Pete lead us to a small path down. Through the wood we could see the street.

„Be careful, the ground here is a bit slippery."

Carfully we went down the path and trod the street. A few meters from us I could see a pick-up truck, black and in a pretty good condition.

As we got closer I could see that it was a _Dodge Ram._

„Nice car.", the Doctor commented and Duncan smiled brightly.

„Thanks."

„This will save us a lot of time.", Pete said „If we´d walked it would take us 6 hours to get to the centre."

Suddenly there was a crack in the woods and all of us turned our heads.

Duncan had already pulled out his gun, aiming in the direction the noise came from. Pete pulled me and the Doctor behind him before also drawed his weapon.

„May be one of the creatures.", he whispered to us.

We tensed when there was another crack, and then someone shouting.

„Pete, Duncan! Please don´t shoot, it´s me!"

The shape of Dr. Rhymes came out of the shadows of the forest, hands pulled up in a pacificatory way.

„I´m sorry, I didn´t want to alarm you.", he gasped. He´d obviously been running.

Pete and Duncan immediatly lowered their guns.

„What are you doing here?!", Pete snapped. „Mullet said it´s too dangerous, we need you here you´re the only doctor we have!"

„Well, thanks.", I heard the Doctor murmur.

„I know what he said.", Rhymes said while walking towards us, „But I have to come with the Doctor, I need to know about that virus!"

„Andrew, go back!"

„No, Pete, I´ve been trying to decode this virus for 5 years now! I want to be there when it finally happens!"

Pete sighed.

„Alright, do you have your gun?"

„Of course!"

„Well, then. Get in the car everyone!"

Duncan´s driving skills were debatable. Although the streets were merely empty, he was racing like a maniac and kind of driving in wiggly lines. We got thrown from side to side which meant I got hit from both side, sitting in the middle of both doctors. I was pretty sure we´d get some nice bruises from this car ride.

As we got closer to the centre Duncan left the main street and drove the car to a smaller one. Once we had passed a town sign (Panthersville _)_ Duncan turned off the lights on his car. From what we could see of the town it was abanondend. Also, there was lots of ruins, buildings have been destroyed.

„ milesWhat happened here?", the Doctor asked.

„As soon as most of the town had been evacuated the government and the military decided to throw bombs onto it.", Dr. Rhymes said.

„What?!"

„Well, infected people had been everywhere, killing other people, noone knew if they´d turn too. The government thought they´d destroy the ´source of fire´by killing off all the infected people. Of course there were still some of them who ´survived´."

„They threw a bomb onto a city, although there were still normal people around here?", I asked in shock.

„Yes."  
„Humans.", the Doctor hissed, „give them power and they think they´re allowed and excused to do everything."

Duncan stopped the car behind the ruins of a house.

„This is as far as we can go by car, if I´d drive further they´s see us. The border is right in front of us."

Looking out of the window we could see a huge gate made of metal, also there were look-outs on both sides of the gate and barbed wire to keep intrudors from climbing above the gate. To both sides of the gate were houses, wall to wall, so there wasn´t any fence or wall nedded to keep people from entering the closed off zone. The doors and windows had been bricked. On both look outs were soldiers standing, each one carrying a floodlight to lighten up the area around the gate.

„Alright, we have to walk the rest. Centre and the lab are still around 9 miles away.", Pete said.

„9 miles!?", I shrieked.

„Yes. Under normal circumstances it would take you around 3 hours to get there, but with the military around everywhere I think it will take you at least 24 hours."

Speechless I just stared at him. Of course I wasn´t used to walks as long as this.

„Right then, get out of the car."

„How do we get in there?", I asked when everyone was out, carefully paying attention to stay hidden behind the house.

„We´ll take you to one of the houses to the left of the gate. The military only has guards on top of the gates, but never inside the houses that´s their weak point. There´s a house were we can get through the cellar. Resistance fighters once build a tunnel into it to get into the city."

„There´s a resistance?", the Doctor asked.

„Yes, they think the government should rather invest into researches about the virus than into vehicles for the military so they can shoot people from a panzer."

„They´ve got panzers?", I asked.

„Yes, of course they are the military."

 _Great._

„Okay.", Pete said, „is everyone alright."

„Ready as ever.", the Doctor stated, Rhymes and I just nodded.

„You can still go back.", the Doctor whispered to me.

„No, I´m staying with you."

„Alright.", Pete said. „Now, follow me, and stay away from that floodlight!"

Pete went around the house so we were at the backside of it, in the garden, but still hidden ftom the views of the soldiers.

He pointed to the ruins of another house around 100 meters away from us and closer to the border.

„When I say ´run´you had to this house over there and hide inside the ruins, okay?"

Everyone nodded. I could feel my body tensing and my heartbeat has never been this fast.

When the floodlights swang to the opposite direction we were in Pete gave the signal.

„Run!"

All of us sprinted towards the ruins. The Doctor pulled me along with him, so I had to increase my speed. When we reached the ruins I was pulled behind a wall and I heard Pete almost whispering.

„All fo you stay down!"

Above my head I could see the floodlight shining onto the walls above us were once had been another floor of the house.

„Do you think they have seen us?", Rhymes panted, but the Doctor layed a finger on his lips.

„Ssh!"

„What´s wrong?", I whispered.

„Ssh!"

Then it hit me.

 _Time Lord. He can hear them!"_

„One of them noticed something,", he then said, „But he´s not sure if he´d just imagined it. Best if we wait a few minutes before we go on."

Pete nodded.

„You have remarkable senses.", Dr. Rhymes said admiringly.

„Time Lord senses are much further developped than human senses."

The floodlight stayed on the ruins for a good 5 minutes before it swang away again.

„Now, follow me!"

Pete started to run and we followed close behind, he lead us alongside the border and then into another ruin. Again we hid behind the walls.

„Alright, here we are.", Pete said, moving away a big piece of wreckage together with Duncan to reveil a hatch.

„So, this is your secret tunnel?", the Doctor asked.

„Yes." Pete pulled the hach open.

„I´ll go first, then you lot and Duncan will be the last." with that he climbed into the small tunnel behind the hatch. Dr. Rhymes followed him.

„What´s wrong?", the Doctor asked when he saw my face.

„Claustrophobia."

„It´s okay, I´m right behind behind you. All you have to do is breath calmly."

I nodded and made my way into the small tunnel. It smelled of earth and dust and it was _very_ narrow. Pete and Dr. Rhymes lead the way and I followed them trying to ignore the oppressive feeling in my chest. It was getting hard to breath.

„Calmly.", the Doctor said behind me „and regularly."

I tried to do what he´d told me, but I could feel the panic rising as we continued our way and the tunnel got even more tight, now the walls were so close my legs, arms and clothes touched them and got dirty with earth. MY breathing increased and soon turned into pantings.

„Hey, you´re doing fine, don´t let the panic get to you!", I heard the Doctor´s voice behind me, but I couldn´t really pay attention to what he was saying.

„Everything alright?", Pete called back.

„She´ll be fine!", Duncan answered, „Don´t worry, we´re almost through!"

By the end of the tunnel we could see a small hole and Pete climbed through it. Dr. Rhymes struggled with getting thorugh, because it was so tiny.

I hesistated.

„You can do this.", the Doctor said reassuringly. „Just try to stay calm."

Pete reached in to help me and I started to make my way through the hole.

It was hard to move in the last bit of the tunnel so I had to crawl like Pete and Dr. Rhymes did and it felt like hell. I could feel the walls touching my body everywhere and before I was halfway through the panic kicked in.

I couldn´t really breathe anymore and my vision got blurred from tears.

 _Just go on, it´s just a stupid tunnel and you´re almost out!_

I could feel my muscels move and then a hand, pulling me out.

„There you are.", Pete said in a friendly tone and handed me over to Dr. Rhymes to help the Doctor.

„It´s okay, sit down, try to calm down.", Dr. Rhymes said, helping me sit down on the floor.

„Thanks."

„This happened to me too the first few times I came through here.", Pete said, helping the Doctor climb out of the hole. „Nothing to be embarrased about."

Duncan cam out close behind.

„You´re alright?", the Doctor asked, kneeling down in front of me.  
„Yes, fine, thanks."

He squeezed my hand and gave me a smile.

„So, here we are then.", Pete said. „Welcome to Atlanta!"

 **+8+ - Bill**

„Alright, let´s go upstairs.". Pete said, putting on a torch and leading the way to the stairs.

My breathing had calmed down and I stood up to follow the others.

„We will meet Bill, our friend upstairs. From then on you´ll have to rely on him, Pete and I will head back to the village.", Duncan said and opened the door at the end of the stairs.

The Doctor nodded to him and followed him through the door.

„Are you sure you want to stay with him?", Pete asked. At first I didn´t realized that he was talking to me, I thought he´d spoken to Dr. Rhymes.

„We can still take you back with us, you know? I think he´d be happier if oyu´d be back in the village."

„I won´t leave hikm.", I said with a smile.

Pete just nodded and walked on. We entered a floor. The wallpaper had loosened and the floor was dirty and full of dust. There were still pictures on the walls, covered in dust and almost bleached out.

A family was shwon on them, two kids and a nice looking couple.

 _They´re most likely dead._

„Don´t let it get to you too much.", Dr. Rhymes said when he saw my face.

„I know it´s hard, but it gets only in the way when it comes to surviving."

I just nodded and our group left the floor and entered a living room. The room looked like the family never left. Well, except the fact that the house was slowly rotting. Everyhting was still in its place. The cupboards, the shelf with the TV on it and the two green sofas. On one of the sofas sat a man. He looked a bit like Pete, the same blue eyes and a beard, only his face was a bit younger. He wore jeans and a white shirt and he held a shogtun. To his right was a table with an old oil lamp on it that added a warm light to the room.

He greeted us by lifting an imaginary hat.

„Hello, everyone.", he said. „Lady."

He slighty bowed to me and I shyly bit my lip.

„This is Bill.", Pete told us, „My brother."

 _That´s why they look so alike._

„He will take you to the lab."

Bill just nodded and gave us a friendly smile.

„I know I told you it would only be the Doctor and the girl, but Dr. Rhymes would like to accompany too. Is that a problem?"

„No, not a problem at all.", Bill said with a wink.

„So, you are the Doctor? Pete said you can propably safe us."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at Pete.

„Well, I wouldn´t go that far, but I´ll give my best."

Bill just nodded at that and then turned to me.

„Are you sure you want to join us? This is not a place for a young girl."

 _Why does everyone keep aksing me that?_

„Yes."

„Ena...", the Doctor said, „Pete and Duncan haven´t left yet you can still got back with them."

„No."

He sighed. „Alright."

„Okay, so Pete and I are going back. Do you have the gun I gave you?"

Duncan asked me.

I nodded and showed him the gun that rested in the rifle holder that fas fastened to my belt.

„Good. Now, good luck on you.", Duncan said and left with a smile.

Pete came over and pulled me into a hug. I gave a surprised gasp, but returned his hugging.

„Take care.", he just said and then turned to Bill.

„Thank you and keep them safe, little brother."

„Don´t worry, I will!", Bill waved at Pete and then he was gone too.

„So, what happens now?", Dr. Rhymes asked.

Bill took the oil lamp in one hand and the shot gun into the other.

„First we head to my hiding place, then we rest. It´s a long march and you look tired. We´ll eat and drink and we leave after sunset, it´s too dangerous to move around here by day."

The three of us agreed to this and so we followed Bill, who put out the fire of the oil lamp before we left the house and put it into his rucksack. Bill opened the main door a crack to peek to the outside.

„Okay, we´re lucky, no patrol inside. Let´s go!"

Bill left the house and we entered the empty street. Everyhting looked like in a ghost town. Houses, shops and cars had been left and were rotting now. It looked so much like an actual apocalypse.

 _This is my planet dying._

I cought the Doctor´s gaze and he looked at me in a mixture of sadness and pity.

Bill lead us into a small alleyway with fire ladders at the sides of the houses.

„We will have to get in there and then move on through the garden,", he told us, already climbing one of the ladders.

„Are there many of the creatures?", I aksed while following him.

„Not here, we will come across some later, I´m afraid. The military usually gets rid of them very fast, but further away from the check-point are less patrols, which means more infected. We´ll have to be careful."

I felt a shiver running down my spine and I asked myself why I was following this insane plan and didn´t stay in the village.

 _You know why._

Yes, in fact I really knew why. It was the Doctor. If he died out here I would never see him again I wouldn´t even know what had happened to him. I´d be stuck in this time until I die without knowing about his fate. I couldn´t let that happen.

„Damn, they locked the door! Stupid trespassers!", Bill sweared. „Not you, of course.", he smiled back at us.

Fumbling in his pocket, the Doctor stepped closer to the door.

„May I?" Bill stepped aside and gave the Doctor access to the door. The sonic screwdriver came out of the pocket and with a wheezing sound the door popped open.

„Wow! How did you do that?", Bill admired.

„Sonic screwdriver, useful little gadget.", the Doctor smiled and entered the house. We followed close behind. It was hard to see inside with no light so Bill took out his torch and lead the way. „Be careful on the stairs there not that solid.", he said while walking sown said stairs, making creaking noises with each step. After we went down we were standing in a tiny floor and Bill lead us through the bedroom into a large garden. We could see remains of what might have been statutes and in the middle of the garden was a watersproud fountain. The stone might have been white some time agao, but now it was almost completely green with alga.

„How long will it take us to reach your hiding place?", Dr. Rhymes asked.

„Oh, it´s not that far about half an hour."

Bill lead us our way through gardens, streets and houses. Two times we had to hide from the patrols of the military, but Bill did a great job walking us through all the areas. The town looked like a real ghost town, ruins and abanondend houses, rotting cars and destroyed fences reminded me of a game I loved to play on the Playstation. Except this was real. Bill lead us across a street and turned to us.

„We´re almost there.", he said and walked ahead.

Further away in the street we could hear some rattling, like a dustbin ahd been bowled down.

„What was that?", Dr. Rhymes asked, he couldn´t hide his nervousness.

„Whatever it is, it´s growling and snarling.", the Doctor said, looking concerned.

„We should hurry, common!"

Then we saw them. Three of the creatures came onto the streets, heading towards us.

„They,ve seen us! Hurry!"

We ran along the street until we had reached an old music store. Bill fumbled with some keys, but the Doctor just soniced the door and pulled it open.

„In, in, in!", Bill called in a hurry.

Looking behind me I could see the creatures coming closer and closer. Neil had been right, they were incredibly fast! When we were in the Doctor lcked the door behind us.

„What now?", he asked Bill.

„Follow me!"

We followed Bill into a small back room of the store.

I heard glass break.

 _Oh, shit!_

„Hurry, now! Through the window!", Bill yelled and yanked the window open, gesturing wildly to us.

Dr. Rhymes climed through first, we could hear the noises getting closer.

„Go!", the Doctor said pushing me towards the window, while he tried to lock the door with his screwdriver, and I climed through, Bill close behind me.

„Doctor!"

I couldn´t see anything since Bill was in my way but I heard the door bang against the wall.

„Get out!", Pete yelled, loading his shotgun.

The Doctor climbed through the window, but when he was half out he buckled.

„Doctor!", I ran to him and grapped his arms, he was desperatly clinging to mine.

„It´s got my leg!"

I pulled and the Doctor gave a slight groan. I could see one of the creatures grabbing the Doctors leg, trying to bite him, but the Doctor somehow still managed it to shake his teeth away from his calf.

The creature growled angrily and then the two others appeared in the doorframe.

„No, no, no!" I desperatly pulled harder and actually, the creature was pulled against the wall untightening his grip.

Then a shot fell and the Doctor fell out of the window and on top of me. I heard two more shots and then silence, well, except our heavy breathing.

„Well, that was narrow.", Bill stated.

Dr. Rhymes was panting and stared wide eyed into the window.

The Doctor groaned and rolled off me.

„Sorry.", he breathed heavily.

„I´m fine.", I just said. „You´re okay?" I sat up and pulled him into a hug.

„I´m fine.", he said, hugging me tight before letting go, again.

On shaky legs, the Doctor stood up and put a hand on Bills shoulder.

„Thanks."

„You´re welcome. Now, is everyone okay? Noone injured?"

„No."

Dr. Rhymes just shook his head.

„Right then, lets go on, it´s really not far now."

After another fifteen minutes of walking my heartbeat was almost normal again. I wittingly hadn´t put a look back into that window, after all they had been human, dead or not, infected or not.

The Doctor kept giving me puzzled looks, but I tried to ignore it. I didn´t want to show weakness in front of the others.

Bill suddenly stopped infront of a school.

„So, here we are!"

„That´s your hideout?", Dr. Rhymes asked. „A school?"

„Nice one!", the Doctor just stated.

The school soon proved to be more safe than the houses we had seen on our way. The walls, windows and doors were all intact and doubly secured. Also, Bill had installed an alarm system, so we would hear if anything entered the school. He lead us across the floor to a small classroom. The tables and chairs

had been put to the walls and a matress was lying on the floor, alongside a bedside lamp and some books.

„This is my room, but I have more rooms like this, you never know who needs some shelter."

He led us to another room, a bit bigger and with two matresses.

„Maybe the men can use this one and you can have the room on the oppsite.", Bill suggested.

The thought of being alone after seeing that creatures in action wasn´t really amazing me.

„I think she needs some company now.", Dr. Rhymes said. „I´ll take the smaller room."

I gave him a thankful gaze and he smiled at me, as if to say _no problem._

„Okay. Then we better get some rest, the journey will be quite exhausting.", Bill said „If you need something I´ll be in my room. Try to get some sleep. Se you in the morning."

With that he left.

„Right, I´ll try to gain some sleep. See you tomorrow.", Dr. Rhymes babbled and then he was gone too.

„You´re alright?", the Doctor asked when Rhymes was gone.

„I don´t know.", I answered honestly. „I mean, they were already dead, but..."

„Yeah, I know.", the Doctor said softly, putting a hand on my cheek.

„Now, try to sleep."

I simply nodded, knowing there would be no use in arguing.

+Interlude+

About 640 miles away in an office, a phone rang. The man behind the desk had been looking outside his window and watched the patrol of the military on the street below. It was late at night, or early in the morning, depends on which why you wanted to see it.

„Hello?"

„Sir? It´s me!"

Of course he recognized the voice.

„Yes, I know, what makes you calling me in the middle of the night?"

„He´s in right now, he´s crossed the borders."

„Very well, everything went finde, I suppose?"

„Well, he got almost bitten, but everything is fine so far."

„I need him alive, remember that he has to get through the zone safe and in one piece!"

„Yes, Sir."

„What about the girl?"

„She´s still with him, Sir."

„Well, it doesn´t matter, we´ll get rid of her, she´s of no use. Just make sure they get to this lab safely and don´t let them suspect anything."

„Of course, Sir."

„Good. I have to say you´ve done your job very well."

„Thank you, Sir."

„I still can´t believe how lucky we are, him being here and I didn´t even had to sent a fake distrass signal." The man behind the desk chuckled.

„Yeah, it´s been very lucky he crashed here."

„Well, however, keep an eye on him and make sure he´ll really reach that lab, I´ll be there and welcome him.", an evil smile formed on the mans lips. „Just call me when you´re close to it, I´ll be heading over tomorrow."

„Yes, Sir, goodnight, Sir."

The man hang up and then pressed a button on his desk. After a few seconds the voice of his assistant came out of the speaker on his desk.

„What can I do for you, Sir?"

„Prepare everything for a journey to Atlanta, I´ll be off at 8 in the morning."

„Yes, Sir."

+9+ Of monsters and men

 **As soon as Ena was asleep the Doctor stood up and left the room. Voices came from the room Bill had shown them as his private room and the Doctor followed the voices. Dr. Rhymes and Bill were sitting on the floor, talking.**

„ **I thought we should get some rest.", he said with a smile.**

 **The two men turned their heads and looked at him.**

„ **Doctor!", Dr. Rhymes waved at him to come in. „I was asking Bill about the virus!"**

 **The Doctor went to sit on the floor next do Rhymes and Bill. In the middle of their little circle was an oil lamp, flickering in the, apart from that, dark room.**

„ **Dr. Rhymes told me that they´ve been suggesting that the virus doesn´t spread when people get bitten.", Bill said.**

„ **Yeah, Arthur Mullet told us so.", the Doctor replied „But in the way you were saying that I suppose this is not entirely true?"**

„ **No.", Dr. Rhymes said.**

„ **People do turn when they get bitten, I thought Pete, Mullet and their people would know that already. They don´t turn when they´re alive, though..."**

„ **They turn when they die.", the Doctor ended the sentence. „That´s what you´ve wanted to say, isn´t it?"**

„ **Yes.", Bill nodded.**

„ **Interesting, it seems to feed from dead tissue."**

„ **You said it´s propably an alien virus, could that cause those symtoms? Turning people into monsters only after they died.**

„ **Yes, that´s quite possible, I still think it´s a virus of the Comubes and since their biology is so different from the one of humans.. yes, I think that´s defenitly possible."**

„ **I never believed in aliens before.", Bill said.**

„ **Until Pete contacted me and told me about you. What´s so different with you? You look human."**

„ **No, you look Time Lord.", the Doctor smiled at him „Amd there are plenty of things, more than you can imagine."**

„ **He´s got two hearts.", Dr. Rhymes said in an admiringly voice as if he was talking about making a big archaeological discovery.**

 **Bill´s eyes widened.**

„ **Two hearts? Blimely, that´s creepy."**

„ **For you, propably, for me it´s the -heart-thing that´s creepy, still don´t get how you manage that.", the Doctor replied.**

„ **So, where do you come from? What is your planet like and why do you sound british?", Bill babbled.**

„ **Well, lots of planets have a Britain and please don´t get me wrong, but I don´t like talking about me on first dates, so tell us about you!", the Doctor said. „How did you end up here in the forbidden zone and never got caught?"**

„ **Well, I´m just very good at not being seen, and even if, I´m very good at escaping.", he said with a proud smile on his face.**

„ **In other words I´m the perfect smuggler for you."**

„ **Why did you stay here? Why not go to the village with your brother?"**

„ **Oh, I have a place in the village.", Bill answered, „Sometimes I go and pay them a visit, but I offered them to smuggle food and stuff to the outside and it´s easier to do it from in here. Also, I kind of like the excitement."**

 **The Doctor nodded.**

„ **You´re a man of adventure."**

„ **Exactly."**

 **They were quiet for a while. Then Dr. Rhymes took the word.**

„ **Are there lots of infected on our route?"**

 **Bill sighed.**

„ **We will meet a few, I suppose, but they´re not the problem, since they are quite easy to execute, it´s the military that we should avoid by any means. Will get difficult from time to time."**

„ **They´re not really the noce guys, are they?", the Doctor said.**

„ **No.", Bill said. „Who´s the girl by the way? Why bring her? As much as Pete told me she can´t help you in the lab."**

„ **She´s a friend of mine.", The Doctor said. „And she insisted on coming with us."**

 **Bill just nodded.**

„ **Will keep an eye on her.", he winked at the Doctor who gave him a friendly smile.**

„ **Thanks."**

„ **And on you too, that was pretty close, he almost bit you."**

„ **Yeah, I know, I´ve been there."**

 **Bill laughed. „Sorry, I didn´t mean to offend you."**

„ **What do you think would happen if they bit you?", Dr. Rhymes threw in.**

 **The Doctor thought for a moment.**

„ **Actually I don´t know. Maybe turn me too, maybe not, I really don´t know, but I´m also not very keen of finding out."**

 **Dr. Rhymes yawned.**

„ **Well, I supposed we should really get some rest. I´m going to sleep.", he stood up. „Goodnight, gentelmen." With that he left the room.**

„ **I suppose I should be leaving too, you propably want to get some sleep." The Doctor also stood up.**

„ **What about you`Won´t you go to bed?"**

„ **That´s another difference between me and you, I need less sleep than humans."**

 **Bill just smiled.**

„ **I think I don´t envy you.", Bill said while getting up as well.**

 **The Doctor, now standing in the door frame turned around.**

„ **The two hearts thing.", Bill said. „Always carrying twice the pain that we feel. I think I couldn´t cope with that."**

 **The Doctor just looked at him.**

„ **I can see it in your eyes, you know.", Bill continued. „All the loss in your eyes. Pete told me about your age, must be hell loosing everyone around you. I lost my son to the military, he got shot after the infection broke out."**

„ **I´m sorry.", the Doctor said, standig there, his shoulders hanging and a pityful look on his face.**

„ **Don´t worry, I´ll make sure you won´t loose her, too."**

 **The Doctor gave Bill a nod and a sad smile before went back to his room again.**

+10+ - Cards

 **OMG, I´m so sorry it took me that long to update! And I´m even more sorry for this really crappy chapter! Anyway, here it comes:**

I shot up from the matress because of a very loud, rattling noise next to my ear. I could hear someone swear and turned my head to find the Doctor standing behind me, bending down to pick up the oil lamp he´d obviously just dropped.

„Jesus, I almost got an heart attack.", I panted.

„Sorry.", the alien muttered, placing the lamp on one of the tables.

„Is your clumsiness kicking in again?"

„Oi, shut up!"

I blinked against the sunlight that was shining through the huge windows.

„What time is it?", I wanted to know.

„Sometime in the morning."

„Oh, how very _precisely."_

It must´ve been very early in the morning, since I realized the sun was only just rising and put everyhting into an orange light.

„I think the others are still asleep.", the Doctor said now leaning against a table. Looking around I found that the floor of the room was covered with pieces of origami work and a Rubik´s cube (a solved one) lay on the Doctor´s matress. I looked up to him.

„You haven´t slept, have you?"

„No.", he just said.

I grinned at him and stood up to stretch my body, the matress had been very hard.

„So, what are we going to do all day before we leave?"

The Doctor shrugged.

„I don´t know.".

„Well then, let´s have breakfast.", I said pulling out the bread.

„I´m not hungry.", the Doctor said, starting a new piece of origami.

I shrugged and pulled the rest back in to my bag.

As I was eating the Doctor finished his origami (a swan) and then just tood there, arms folded, and watched me.

„Stop that."

„Am I making you nervous?", he grinned.

„No, I just hate to be watched while im eating!"

I finished eating and then stared back at him.

„What now?"

„I don´t know."

„Well, I have a cards game in my bag."

He clapped his hands.

„Yes! Good! Very good idea! Let´s play cards!"

„God, you really are bored, aren´t you?"

He gave me a desperate look and I just nodded. He hated it to wait, especially when there is something he hasn´t figured out yet.

I stood up to help him carry one of the tables into the middle of the room. Both of us took a chair to sit on.

After 12 rounds of „Hearts" (out of which I had won exactly, well, 0) we noticed a shape in the door frame.

„Morning.", Bill said.

„Hi.", I replied.

„How´s it going?", he aksed, entering the room followed by Dr. Rhymes.

„Ah, well, we´re trying to kill some time, you see?", the Doctor said with a smile. „Since my ship is gone we can´t just skip the boring parts of waiting."

Dr. Rhymes and Bill each took a chair to join us at the table. I looked at my friend.

„Still no signal from her?"

He sighed. „No."

„What do you think is taking her so long?"

„My theory is that she received some serious damage because of the shooting. And repairing that damage is slowing her down."

„You mean she needs more time to heal?", I asked, playing my card.

„Exactly."

Dr. Rhymes seemed to be listening with great interest.

„Are you saying your ship can heal itself, meaning it can repair damage on its own?"

„Yes, she can heal _her_ self. She´s a clever old girl.", the Doctor stated, prife glinting in his eyes.

„Sorry... _her_? _",_ Bill said „I thought we were talking about a spaceship?"

„We are, yes.", I said with amusement. Once you knew about all the time travel, Time Lords and timey wimey stuff it was just so funny to see people´s reactions to it. „Except this one is alive, or kind of."

„Well, she is a spaceship and she´s _very_ alive.", the Doctor said giving me an insulted look.

„Sorry.", I mouthed.

„So, can she talk?", Rhymes asked.

„No, no, she isn´t constructed that way. Although she actually _was_ talking once, she was imprisoned in a human body, but that´s a long story."

I wanted to ask him about it, but he looked rather thoughful and yearning so I decided to leave it. I just noticed that he had played his last card and, again, had won.

I sighed.

„So, you two wanna join in?", I asked Bill and Dr. Rhymes.

„Yes, sure!"

„I can´t even remember when I last played a game of cards.", Bill said with a sad smile.

„Yeah, it´s been a while.", Rhymes added.

We spent the rest of the day playing cards and chatting.

After it got dark we got ready to leave. Bill had prepared backpacks for all four of us, filled with food cans, water bottles and a knife. My bag was small enough to be stuffed in too.

While we had been playing cards Bill told us that the military and the infected weren´t the only ones to be avoided. He told us about gangs, lingering in the streets at night, rubbing passers-by and capture some of them.

„What do they do with the people they kidnap?", I asked.

„Well, I don´t think I have to explain to you what they´re doing to the women?"

I pulled a disgustedly face. The Doctor just had a dark expression on his face.

„We think after they tortured them, they eat the men. It´s hard to find proper food these days."  
I felt like I was getting sick.

„Well, let´s stay away from them, then.", the Doctor just said, again winning the game.

„Yeah, sounds like they are pretty sick bastards."

„Yes, they absolutely are."

„Okay, same as yesterday, you follow me and you will follow my instructions and don´t ask why I tell you do something just do it, alright?"

„Understood."

Dr. Rhymes just nodded.

„I trust you.", the Doctor just said.

And then we headed to the exit of the school.

+11+ - Danger

„Where are we going exactly?", I asked after we´ve walked about 1 hour, always trying to avoid patrols of the soldiers. Most of the time we had been sneaking from building to building since it was too dangerous to walk in the middle of the road.

„We are heading for the zoo.", Bill said.

„The zoo?", the Doctor said, „that´s pretty close to the centre already."

„Yes, we´ll have a rest there and will do the rest of the way tomorrow night."

„Why the zoo?", I asked.

„Remember when I told you about the gangs? Well, there are good gangs as well. I have friends who are in a gang, a friendly one of course, and they live in the zoo. Build their own little community in there."

„And they´ll help us?", Dr. Rhymes asked as we were entering an old gas station.

„Well, they won´t help us get in I think, but I´m sure they´ll give us a place to rest. I once saved the life of their leader, so he kind of owes me a favour."

„It´s always good to have someine who owes you a favour.", the Doctor smirked, pulling out a torch, since it was almost pitch black inside the building.

„We should look around if we find something useful and then hide. It´s best if we wait until the next patrol has passed.", he took a look at his watch. „They should be here in about 15 minutes, if we leave now we´ll run straight into them. We have to make a short piece of the road on the streets after we will have left here, the buildings are all entrenched."

„There´s no way in?", I asked.

„No, this is one of the few areas where the houses are well secured, you can´t break into them, would take hours, the soldiers would find you before you got in."

I nodded.

The Doctor was strolling around looking at the dusty, empty shelves. There were still price labels tagged on them. I went behind the counter and entered the room behind it.

 _Staff only_ was written in red letters on the door. The room was pretty much empty except a small table, two chairs and a very small kitchen. Everything was full of dust. I opened one of the kitchen´s drawers. It contained a

lighter. I tried it and found it was still working.

„I found nothing.", Dr. Rhymes said, coming from another romm which had propably been the storage.

„I found a lighter, it´s still working in case anyone needs one."

„Oh, yes, please!", Bill almost sighed and took it from my outstreched hand.

Then he fumbled in one of his pockets.

„I found cigarettes."

„Seriously?", the Doctor said. „You are fighting zombies and soldiers to surivive and then you ruin your lungs by smoking a cigarette?!"

Bill took a deep draw on the cigarette and let out a sigh.

„I missed this."

I giggled at the Doctor´s unbevlievingly expression and walked over to him.

„Still no signal?"

„No, but there will be.", he gave me an assuring smile and couldn´t help but smile back at him.

„I think we can do this.", he continued, „Bill is a good guide we stayed out of trouble until now, I think we can reach this lab without being kidnapped or killed, or..."

„Yeah, I know!", I hissed in a whisper. „Please don´t remind me of the possibilty of death. There´s no need for that."

„Sorry.", he whispered back.

Outside we could see moving lights on the street.

„Alright.", Bill put his cigarette out and turned to us. „Time to hide!"

„Will they be coming in?", the Doctor asked.

„They usually don´t.", Bill whispered and hid behind the counter together with Dr. Rhymes, while the Doctor pulled me by the wrist into the storage room where we hid behind one of the shelves.

We could hear the soldiers talk outside, but we couldn´t see how close they were from our hiding place. The voices were getting louder and I could see a trail of light on the floor, swinging around.

 _A torch._ It was only there for about a minute then it was gone again. I could hear someone shout something that sounded like _All looks clear!_.

We waited in our hiding position for about another ten minutes before we heard Bill´s low voice.

„It´s okay they should be far away enough by now."

I sighed in relieve to be able to move again and stood up, seeing the Doctor stretching is limps and shaking his right foot strangely.

„What are you doing?"

„It fell asleep.", he said pulling a grimace.

I chuckled.

„What´s wrong?", Bill came through the door.

„His foot fell asleep.", I giggled.

„That´s not funny! I can´t even feel it.", the alien complained.

„Only you can manage to get one of your limbs fall asleep while hiding."

He gave me an offended look while trying to keep his balance, only standing on one food.

„And now we can´t leave beacuse of your foot being asleep.", I teased him.

He stuck his tongue out at me.

„You´re way too cheeky sometimes!"

I knelt down and grabbed his ankle.

„What are you doing?", he asked.

„Helping.", I simply said and began to massage his lower leg, always starting right under the knee and moving my hands down to the ankle.

„God, I hate that feeling.", he grimaced as the blood came flooding back into his foot again.

„Will this take long? Because we´ll have to leave soon!", Bill said from behind me.

„Won´t take long.", I simply said. I gave the Doctor´s leg another three strokes until I got up again.

„Better?"

„Yeah, thanks, still tickling, but let´s go now.", he said.

„Right, follow me."

We followed Bill right onto the street. As we walked I could see the houses and buildings that had been firmly shut with metal bars on doors and windows. Even the windows of the cellars had been closed that way.

„Okay, we go straight forward, just follow me!", Bill said and broke into a slightly, chilling run. We made it only through the secured area before we heard voices again, laughing and from around the corner we could see an orange glow like a fire would do.

„Oh, no."

Bill suddenly stopped, making the Doctor almost running into him. Me and Dr. Rhymes stopped behind them.

„What´s wrong?", he asked.

„Dear god, no."

„Bill, what´s wrong?", the Doctor asked as Bill stared into the direction the light came from.

„Turn off your torches!", he hissed. „This way!"

With a pounding heart I followed his order and followed him into a shop, a supermarket, which we entered through a hole in it´s front window.

„Hide! And don´t make any noise! It´s one of the gangs!"

For a second I just stared at him, then I got dragged behind one of the pay desks just as the light ray of a torch hit the spot where I had been standing just one second ago.

„Stay down!", the Doctor hissed in my ear.

I crouched down as far as I could, the Doctor behind my bag, arms outstreched around me and pressing his palms agains the desk as if he tried to protect me from a shot.

We could hear the voices getting closer.

 _Oh no, that´s not good._

„I think I saw someone.", came a voice from outside and another light ray searching for us.

„Great. They´ve seen us.", the Doctor whispered.

„What do we do?"

„Just stay down, maybe they won´t come in."

He was wrong. They came in. We heard glass braking as they increased the size of the hole in the window and climed through.

I desperatly tried to stay calm and breath without making too much noise. The Doctor dragged me even deeper, so I had to climb under the desk completely, so I was sitting now in the little room under the table with the cash box on it.

Somehow he managed to fit in there too, but it was unbelievingly uncomfortable and I couldn´t move at all. I was frightened I couldn´t deny that and I realized that I was shaking and my brething had fastened.

„Well, let´s see if you were right. Maybe we´ll find someone to play with tonight?"

The voice seemed to belong to a middle aged man, if I didn´t know he belonged to a brutal gang of man torturing other humans I would have found is voice very nice.

They were now very close to the pay desk and I prepared myself for the light of the torch to find us and then being brutally murdered.

„Hold your breath.", the Doctor whispered so quietly I almost didn´t hear him.

I did as he told me. The men were now passing by and, just like a miracle, ignored the pay desk and made their way straight to the rows of shelves.

We could hear them throwing around glas and other stuff, yelling and obviously having fun in destroying stuff. I really hoped Dr. Rhymes and Bill had found a good hiding place.

The Doctor suddenly moved, slowly, creeping out from under the desk slowly straightening his back and lifting his head to peak a sneek.

„Doctor!", I hissed. „Don´t!"

He managed to get a look before he crouched down again.

„There are six of them.", he whispered. "Bill gave me a sign to slowly head for the entrance again."

„What!? We´ll never make it, they´ll see us!"

„If we stay here, they´ll find us sooner or later. This is our best chance, I think."

„You _think_?!"

„Yes!"

We could hear someone shout and a lot of noise as one of the shelves came down. The Doctor immediatly shot up and saw Dr. Rhymes and Bill sprinting towards us.

„Up!", he ordered me and I got on my feed as quick as I could.

One of the shelves lay on one of the gang members. He growled in pain, while the others where looking around in shock. But unfortunately they got themselves together far too soon.

All of them were middle aged, like Bill, beardy and had a pretty impressive statue. They really din´t look like the nice guys.

„Get them!"

„Come on!", the Doctor shouted heading for the window. We climbed trough the window again, back on the street.

„You bastards!", I could here one of the man shout. „Come back here!"

We ran, the men always close behind us.

„To the right!", we followed Bill into some smaller streets, again the men close behind.

Then I noticed something flying across our heads.

„Oh, shit!", Bill gasped and immediatly stopped his running.

The explosion made my heart racing like an antelope hunted by a cheetah. Then all we saw was grayness.

 _A smoke bomb._

I tried not to breath in too much of it, but it was hard and I soon I was coughing hard. I couldn´t see anything, neither where our pursuers where nor where the others or the Doctor where.

I dind´t know in which direction to turn, so I decided just to go forward. I could hear one of the man close behind me.

„We´ll get you anyway, you know!"

Then someone grabbed my wrist. I tried to pull free, but then I realised it was Dr. Rhymes who was pulling me.

„Where are the others?", I said, still coughing.

„Sssh! Don´t say anything and try not to cough or they´ll hear in which direction we´re going.!", he whispered.

He was right. Not only we couldn´t see where to go, but our persuars also didn´t see where we were going! Desperatly I tried to stop the coughing.

Dr. Rhymes led us into a small alley and we got lucky.

We found a fire ladder.

„Come on, but try to make no noise."

Slowly we climbed up the ladder until we reached a broken window through which we could climb inside the house.

It was a small appartement with no furniture left except the kitchen. I crawled to the other window from where I could see down on the street. The smoke was slowly fading again and I could see the figures of three of the men.

„Where have they gone?"

„That bomb was a stupid idea."

„It was supposed to slow them down!"

„Well, it obviously didn´t work!"

„I really hopethe others are alright.", I said with a shaking voice as Dr. Rhymes

knelt down beside me, also taking a look out of the window.

„Me too."

 **He ran, but he couldn´t see a thing. Also, he didn´t know where the others were, he couldn´t hear them around. But that was propably the best thing to do, keeping quiet so their hunters could not hear them. He started coughing as he breathed in too much of the smoke. It was everywhere! He didn´t even know where to turn too. The footsteps of the men were getting closer, he needed a place to hide!  
But where to turn? His decision got facilitaed by someone grabbing his sleeve.**

„ **There you are!"**

 **It was one of their persuers. Quickly he managed to get out of his coat leaving it in the man´s hands and ran in the opposite direction. He found an old bookstore with both doors missing and quickly got in.**

 **He was now outside the smoky cloud which already was fading into the air. With pounding hearts he stood now in the book store searching for a place to hide. He could already hear the man getting closer.**

„ **I saw you! There´s no point in hiding!"**

 _ **Still worth a try.**_ **, the Doctor thought, but he didn´t have much time to look for the most efficient hiding place.**

 _ **So, it´s the pay desk again!**_

 **He crouched underneath the small desk, which really was just a small desk with a cash point on it. He stopped breathing as the man entered the shop, followed by more foodsteps.**

 _ **Oh, great there´s two of them!**_

 **He kept perfectly still as their torches searched around the room.**

„ **Are you sure he´s in here?", another voice asked.**

„ **Absolutely sure. We´ll find you anyway, you know! Come out, be a good boy!"**

 **The Doctor didn´t like this one, he obviously was some kind of psychopath. He was desperatly thinking of a way out of this now, but he couldn´t find one. He was trapped. He cursed himself for running into this small shop where there was nowhere further to run. He was trapped and it was his own fault.**

 _ **Stupid Doctor, you should have known better!**_

 **His thoughts got interrupted by the desk being pulled away from him and being thrown over, so it was lending on its tabletop. Alarmed the Doctor jumped on his feed and stumbled backwards, his back hitting the wall hard, staring at the men in front of him.**

„ **My, my, look who´s here. It´s one of our new playmates.", the psycho purred.**

+12+ - The zoo

„ **Ah, hello!, the Doctor said, holding his hands up. „I´m the Doctor and who are you?"**

 **The psycho one (with blonde, messy hair and a half grown beard) grinned.**

„ **Oh, he´s a doctor."**

 **The other one took a step forward, he had dark hair and a fully grown beard.**

„ **Noone your age can become a doctor these days, they don´t get accomplished anymore. How old are you? Fifteen?", he laughed, waving his gun around.**

 **The Doctor pulled an insulted face.**

„ **I am far older than I look and I really don´t like having a gun pointed at me."**

„ **No?", the psycho grinned walking towards the Doctor who straightened himself up and stubbornly held the psycho´s gaze. The man was slightly taller than him and stopped just before him, their faces very close to each other.**

„ **What do you like then?", he purred, pushing the Doctor on the chest so he was backed against the wall again.**

„ **Well, I´d like you to leave my friends and me alone.", the alien said in a dark voice.**

 **The psycho laughed.**

„ **Jim, do you hear that?"**

 **Jim nodded.**

„ **Yes.", he grinned.**

„ **Well,** _ **your**_ **friends just killed one of** _ **our**_ **friends by throwing a shelf on top of him!", he yelled the last bit of the sentence, making the Doctor´s ears ring.**

„ **Yeah, and I´m really sorry for your loss, but...", he got interrupted by the psycho again.**

„ **SHUT UP!", he shouted, grabbed the Doctor´s hair and yanked his head back. The Time Load gave a moan in pain and tried to pull free. The man used his other hand to grab the Doctor´s chin and forced the man to look at him. His eyes were sparkling with madness.**

„ **Your friends killed him and you will pay for that!", he spat.**

„Where are the others?", I asked, still trying to see through the window without being noticed by the men down on the street.

„I don´t know, hopefully they´re safe.", Dr. Rhymes answered.

The smoke was gone now and we could see them properly now for the first time in the past minutes. Like I had noticed in the supermarket before, they all were around 40, carried backpacks and two of the three had a beard. And all of them were carrying weapons. One had a gun, another a knife and the third one carried a baseball bat.

A few meters away form them I noticed something lying on the ground. The Doctor´s coat and his backpack! Immediatley my pulse got faster and my heart now really hammered against my chest. One of the men had noticed it as well and picked the stuff up.

„Damn, where are they?", I couldn´t hide the concern in my voice, I just hoped Bill and the Doctor would be safe.

„Dave! Jim! Have you found something?", on of the men, with dark hair and without a beard, suddenly shouted.

I heard voices coming from the small street that went around the corner, but I couldn´t hear what they were saying.

Soon another man came around the corner of the house and entered the crossroads. Another man followed close behind him, dragging someone along with him.

„Doctor!", I gasped and jumped on my feet, ready to run down the stairs again, but Dr. Rhymes pulled me back down.

„You can´t help him when you get caught yourself!", he said.

I nodded and tried to calm down. We needed a plan!

Down on the street the four men formed a circle around the Doctor and the man holding him.

„Where´s the rest of your group?", a red haired man asked, toying with his knife.

The Doctor didn´t answer him. His hands were tied behind his back and the blonde man was holding him by wrapping his arm around the Time Lord´s chest. The Doctor had his jaws pressed together, staring back at the man. He was in defence mode.

„What makes you think I´d tell you?", he growled.

„Well...", the read head said and the man who was holding my alien friend yanked his head back by the hair.

Again I fought the urge to just run down and help him, although I knew I wouldn´t make it very far.

The red head pressed his knife against the Doctor´s, now exposed, throat. „Maybe this will. Tell me or I´ll cut your throat!"

I felt tears in my eyes. Desperatly I looked to Dr. Rhymes, who swallowed nervously. He obviously didn´t have a plan, but then he took is gun out of his pocket and pointed it at the men.

„I don´t know if this works, they are too far away to aim properly with this small pistol."

„Even if I knew, I wouldn´t tell you.", the Doctor on the street hissed.

„You´re going to shoot them?", I asked.

„Wait, look!", Rhymes said, he lowered his gun and pointed to the building on the oppsite side of the street. And there, in a window on the second floor I saw a face.

„Bill!"

Bill, in the window, had noticed us and waved with something, then he gave a sign to go downstairs again.

„What was that thing in his hand?", I asked, while Rhymes pocketed his weapon again.

„Do you know what Bill is really good at?", he said with a smile.

„No."

„Builiding smoke bombs.", Rhymes said while we were heading for the window through which had come in.

„We´re gonna beat them with their own methods."

He dragged me back down the fire ladder and we managed it ti get down without being heard. Carefully we took a look around the corner so we could see what was going on in the street.

„Make sure you remember where everyone is standing, it´s important we get him out without being caught. When we´ve got him we run straight down the street, got that?"

I nodded. Bill, who was still insight from where we were hiding, and Dr. Rhymes exchangend some signs and I wondered if they actually were able to speek in signs or if they were just trying to tell each other what to do by wildly gesturing around.

„Hey!", the blonde man who was holding the Doctor yelled, „Get out! Or your bowtie-friend here will pay!"

I could feel every part of my body tense. We had to save him! Now!

The Bill gave us a sign and Dr. Rhymes said „Now."

This time we were prepared for the loud bang the bomb made, but the men on the street weren´t. As soon as the smoke made it impossible to see I sprinted towards the group.

„Ena!", I heard Dr. Rhymes calling, but I ignored it. I could hear the men coughing and carefully tried not to run into one of them.

Then I stumpled and I realized that I had tripped over something.

„Ouch!", the thing said.

„Doctor?!"

„Ena?"

 _Oh, thank god!_

I reached down to help him up.

„This way!"

I dragged him into the direction Dr. Rhymes had showed me, or at least I hoped so. To my left I could hear the psycho swear.

„Bastards!"

„Run!"

„That´s a bit difficult to do when you´re hands are tied on your back!", the Doctor complained.

„Oh, thank god, there you are!", this was Bill´s voice.

The smoke was already fading and I could see his silhouette in front of us.

„Follow me!", he grabbed my hand and started to run.

The Doctor (I was dragging him along with me by grabbing his upper arm) was definitely struggling to run without his arms. While running I managed it to pull the knife out of the side pocket of my backpack. When we got out of the smoke I could see Dr. Rhymes had made it too and was running along with us.

„Keep running!", Bill yelled.

It was hard to remember the way we took, but it wouldn´t really matter anyway. After we had run for around 10 minutes we finally stopped to catch our breaths again. I took this opportunity to cut the Doctor´s wirsts free from the rope.

„Ah, thanks!", he said, rubbing his wrists.

„You´re alright?", Bill asked him and the Doctor nodded.

„Although I loved that coat."

„Was your screwdriver in it?", I asked.

„No, it´s here!", he grinned, pulling it out of the pocket of his trousers.

„But you never carry it in your trousers.", I said confused.

„No, I usually don´t, let´s just call it intuition. Still gonna miss that coat."

„I always thought you had more than one of these.", I giggled.

„Oh, I do! They´re in the TARDIS.", he smiled, „Which is gone too."

And his smile faded.

„Is everyone else okay?", he then asked and we assured him that we were fine.

„It´s not far by now.", Bill said and pointed down the main street which lead to the highway.

„But we have to be fast, the sun will be rising soon and then the patrols will be here again."

He guided us down the street and to the highway. Again we could see how damaged the city actually was and a strange feeling hit me.

„Are you alright?", Dr. Rhymes asked me when he saw my face.

„Yes, yes I´m fine."

The Doctor turned his head around to meet my gaze, but didn´t say anything.

Whe kept walking for another twenty minutes when we finally reached the entrance of the zoo.

 _Zoo Atlanta_ said the sign and we headed for the cash point.

„Stop! Stay where you are! We are armed!", a voice shouted.

Immediatley we stopped walking and held up our hands.

„It´s me!", Bill shouted back. „Thomas, is that you?!"

From behind one of the cash points a head was showing up.

„Bill?"

„Yes!"

The man left is hiding place and took a few steps forward as if to check if he really was tallking to Bill.

„It´s really him!", he yelled and three other men came out of their hiding places.

Thomas headed towards us with a smile on his face.

„Dear Lord, it´s really you!", he said and Bill and him shook hands.

„It´s like an eternity has passed since I last saw you, mate! Who are your companions?", he asked nodding to us.

„I´ll explain everything, but can we get inside first?"

„Of course, of course! ", Thomas said and waved us to follow him.

The other man had been waiting in the background and joind us while we were entering the abandoned zoo.

 **+13+ - Shelter**

„So, who are your friends then?", Thomas (or Tom, as Bill called him) asked with a smile and offered us a seat on some chairs.

We were in the kitchen that had been used by the staff back when the zoo had still been in use.

Bill answered him.

„This is Dr. Rhymes, the doctor who lives in the same village as my brother."

Dr. Rhymes gave a nod and a smile to Tom.

„And this is Ena.", I waved at him. „She´s a friend of him here.", he pointed at the Doctor. „The Doctor. He´s here to find out more about the virus. And for that we are trying to get to the lab."

The Doctor also waved at Thomas, who just stared at him, quite concerned obviously.

„The lab? You mean the one here in the centre?"

„Yes."

Tom laughed, but it sounded like the laugh of someone who didn´t believe what he just heard. „The lab in the centre? You want to get _in there?"_

The Doctor nodded.

„Dr. Rhymes and I would like to run some tests in there."

„Dear god, you´re serious? You´re not kidding?"

„No, not at all."

Tom turned to Bill.

„But that´s insane! There´s so much military around there!" Then he turned back to the Doctor.

„Do you actually believe you could find a cure? Really, you should not go there, you´ll never make it!"

„I have to try.", the Doctor said. „I can´t just let this planet leave like this. Well, in fact I actually can´t leave, because my spaceship disappeared, but anyway: we have to try to find out where that virus came from and if it can be healed."

„We think it´s propably some kind of unknown alien virus.", Dr. Rhymes added and the Doctor agreed with a nod.

Tom just stared at them.

„O-okay, but now you´re kidding me?"

„Noones playing a prank on you, Tom! This isn´t something I´d be joking about and you know that!"

„But...but did he just say, that his _spaceship_ disappeared?", Tom whispered so loud everyone of us did hear him.

Bill just looked at him.

„Oh, come on!", he laughed. „Aliens? As if this whole zombie thing wouldn´t be mad enough you´re now telling me, that there´s aliens and spaceships around here? _Oh, please!_ "

„Uhm..", the Doctor said, while Bill and I couldn´t stop ourselves from grinning. As much as I understood his confusion, it was just so funny to see his face.

„Actually, there´s an alien in this room.", the Doctor stated. „Actually, you´re just talking to one right now."

„What do you mean? Oh, wait...you said spaceship..."

„I´m a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey."

„You are human!"

„He _looks_ human.", I corrected.

„You look Time Lord.", the Doctor added and I mouthed the words along with him, which made Bill giggle and the Doctor stuck out his tongue on me.

Thomas still looked sceptical, but he seemed to believe us anyway.

„And you think you can heal that virus?"

„I don´t know, I haven´t got enough information right now. But that is why I need this lab, I need the instruments to run proper tests."

„Okay, so ..you really are an alien? An alien that looks human, wears funny clothes and has a british accent?"

„Yep, totally me!", the Doctor smiled. „Hello, again!"

„It´s hard to believe this.", Tom just said.

„Just you wait until you hear about his age.", Dr. Rhymes grinned.

„Oh, common!", the Doctor protested, but he was being ignored.

„He looks around 30.", Tom said.

„Do I look like a child?", the Doctor protested again.

„It´s a good age for humans.", I assured him.

„So, how old are you then?", Tom asked.

The alien sighed.

„It´s hard to keep up, when you´re a time traveller, but it must be something about 1200 years."

„1200 years?!", Tom almost yelled. „And did you just say _timetravel?!"_

Right now he looked like he was about to faint.

„She´s from 2015.", Bill eyplained and Tom just stared at me.

„But she´s.. she´s.."

„So young? Yes, she came along with him in his time machine."

Tom took a deep breath in.

„Okay, I´ll need time to sort my thoughts right now."

„Yeah, that was a bit much today.", Bill said with a smile. „But, however. Can you help us? I mean with letting us stay here to rest and sleep. We just got attacked by one of the gangs."

Thomas´ face got serious.

„Yeah, one of them got very annoying the last few weeks. They tried to attack us last week to get the zoo for themselves, cost us three men.", he told us.

„I´m sorry to hear that.", Bill said.

„Of course you can stay here to rest, you travel only at night, I suppose?"

„Sure."

Tom nodded.

„Maybe I can give you two of my men to escort you to the lab."

„No, you don´t need to that, it´s too much of a risk.", Bill protested.

„You´ll need them, trust me. They increased the presence of the military in the centre."

„Why would they do that? Did something happen?", the Doctor asked.

„We don´t know.", Tom answered „But two days ago we saw a truck, brining in around a two dozen soldiers."

„That´s bad news.", Bill stated.

„And that´s why I´m offering you help. Any chance to end this nightmare has to be taken and you won´t stand a change if you´re going alone."

„They increased the presence two days ago?", I asked and Tom nodded.

I looked at the Doctor.

„But that was...",

„..just a short time after we´ve landed here, I know.", he completed my sentence.

„Do you think they know that we are coming?", Dr. Rhymes suggested.

„If so, why didn´t they try to stop us at the border?", I asked.

„The border is quite long, it would be easier to fetch you at the lab.", Tom said.

„Good point.", I agreed.

„But how could they´ve possibly known?", Dr. Rhymes said. „Except..."

„Except what?", Bill wanted to know.

„The only way they could have known about this is if someone gave us away."

„You mean one of the villagers?", I asked.

We stayed silent for a moment.

„But why?", Bill said.

„I don´t know. Maybe we´re just suggesting something that is wrong. Maybe they increased the number of the soldiers for a completely other reason."

„Yeah, maybe."

„Or maybe the government knows something we don´t.", the Doctor suggested. He was sitting there, deep in his thoughts while the rest of us had been discussing. „What if they know what causes the virus and how to stop it?"

„But, why wouldn´t they stop it then?", I asked, „What´s the use in this?"

He looked at me some time before he answered.

„I don´t know, but this isn´t the first time this happens. I saved so many worlds from catastrophees that had been caused by their government. You really wouldn´t imagine.."

An hour later we were walking through the paths of the zoo, passing the empty compounds to get to our sleeping place. Tom had told us that they had turned the elephant´s compound into some kind of common room and offered us to bring us some mats to sleep on.

„Where are all the animals?", I asked while walking.

„Most of them died, because noone was looking after them after the virus had spread so fast. A few of them died from the virus itself and some escaped and are now living in the city. Only last week I met a giraffe in the way home.", Tom said.

„And the people just let them live?"

„No, a giraffe means meat for a lots of weeks."

„You killed her? Or him?"

„Sure, we were hungry."

That wasn´t really the answer I wanted to hear, but I couldn´t blame them, they needed food.

„Alright, here we are.", Tom said, guiding us to the empty hall of the elephant´s bawn.

There were small tables and wooden chairs, and some men were bringing in mats, so we didn´t have to sleep on the hard ground, and pillows and blankets.

„Thank you.", Tom said as they were leaving.

„You can sleep over the day, I will see if I can find someone to accompany you tonight."

„Thank you, Tom."; Bill said and shook his hand. „You´ve got no idea how thankful we are."

„Just stop that disease.", he only said and left.


	15. Chapter 14 - The Doctor lies

**+14+ - The Doctor lies**

The Doctor didn´t sleep. Instead he sat on a chair at one of the tables, chin resting on his hands. Thoughtfully he stared into the light of the candle in front of him, with one finger he stroked his chin.

„How long have you been sitting here like that?", I asked after I came back from the restrooms (I had woken up because I needed the toilet).

He didn´t respond or even react.

Only when I sat down on the chair next to him he looked up.

„Sorry, did you say something?"

„How long have you been sitting here like that?", I repeated my question.

„Since the three of you fell asleep.", he answered.

We were almost whispering, so we wouldn´t wake Dr. Rhymes or Bill.

„What are you thinking about?", I asked, toying with my necklace.

„I think they know what we´re planning."

„Sorry?"

„The military. They saw us at the bridge, they saw the TARDIS."

„You think they know who you are?"

„I think so, yes."

„But, you told me you erased..."

„Yeah, yeah, erased myself from history, I know! But that´s not a guarantee that everyone forgets about you. Dr. Rhymes for example knew me all along.", the Time Lord interrupted me.

„Well, he was working for Torchwood.", I said.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Clearly there was more, but he wouldn´t tell me.

 _What´s going on, what is he so worried about?_

„You should go to bed again, you still have two hours left to sleep.", he said.

„I doubt I´ll fall asleep again.", I answered. „What´s wrong, why are you so worried?"

He looked at me for a while before he asked me with a sigh:

„Are you scared?"

„Of what?" His question had taken me by surprise.

„Everyhting. I mean, everything could happen to you out there.", he said gesturing with his hands. „Everything could happen while you´re with me.", he added.

I gave him a smile.

„But you wouldn´t let it happen."

„You wouldn´t be the first one that I could not safe.", he broke eye contact and looked down on some spot on the floor. Suddenly I could see all of his age, 1200 years lasting on his shoulders.

„Travelling with you is indeed dangerous, but seriously, it could happen anywhere! I could cross the road and get hit by a car, or I could be IN the car and have an accident, I could get poisened, I could slump and break my neck, or I could be in the wrong place and the wrong time and get shot, or something."

He smiled a bit.

„I get your point. But do you feel safe? I asked Clara the same question once and I want to know how you feel about it."

„My answer is: Of course I do! And I bet that was Clara´s answer too, wasn´t it?"

He nodded.

„Stop worrying so much."

„I always worry about my friends."

„I know."

The look he gave me told me that there was still more he wanted to talk about.

„There is a reason why I wanted you to stay in the village so desperatly.", he finally said after a few minutes of staring into the candlelight.

„Yeah, I noticed that, you were kind of penetrant about it."

Again he sighed, pressing two of his fingers on his eyelids.

„I think the reason why there is so much military is because they know about us. That we are here and what we are trying to do."

„You already said that.", I said softly.

„No, you´ve got to listen.", he said, looking at me.

Whatever it was he wanted to tell me, it must´ve been very important and very serious, I could see it in his eyes and I could hear it in his tone.

„Okay, yes, sorry.", I murmured.

„I received a distrass signal.", he said. „From here."

I stared at him.

„No, you wanted to take me for a holiday."

 _That´s what he said!_

„I didn´t know the state the city was in! I didn´t know it would be _this_ dangerous!", he said, his eyes shining in the light of the candle.

„You knew it wouldn´t be a holiday.", I stated.

„Yes, I knew there would be something to be done, I just didn´t expect it to be something like this! And then the TARDIS was gone and I couldn´t take you back..", his voice got more intense, but he couldn´t hide the slight desperate tone in it.

„You _knew_ we wouldn´t just have a relaxing time? You _knew_ it would be dangerous and properly turn into some rescue mission?"

„Yes."

 _Why?!_

„Then why didn´t you just tell me?!", I snapped, my voice got high pitched and I quickly looked at Bill and Rhymes to see if they were still sleeping.

„You asked me for a holiday, something to realx, something safe. I wanted to check it out, spend a nice day with you and then take you back home and return later!"

„Well, obviously that didn´t work!"

„Shh!, They´re gonna wake up."

„Don´t shush me! So, this is why you wanted me to stay? Your guilty conscience?!"

He just looked at me and I really had the urge to just scream at him, but I couldn´t really blame him for anything. I was angry at him, or at least a bit, but I didn´t want to fight, I hated fighting.

„Next time, just tell me, what is going on! Was it the distrass call from the comubes, then?"

Again he didn´t answer, he just looked at me. I sighed.

„So, what do you think this is, then?"

„No, it was a different signal and it´s propably a trap.", he answered, now in a very calm tone.

„Then why are we still going to run into it?"

„Because these people need hope. Look around you, you can see your race and planet dying, and it´s breaking your heart. And don´t you deny that I can see it on your face."

Now it was my turn to break eye contact. I hated how he seemed to able to look right inside you even if he wasn´t using his telepathic abilities.

„I need to find out who is behind this and how I can stop them. This is not the way this planet is going to end, and if it´s the last thing I do."

I looked up again.

„Thank you."

His look got confused.

„What for?", he asked.

„Well, saving us when we don´t seem able to do it ourselves.", I said and stood up.

I could see he had blushed a bit when I bent down to hug him.

„I´m in the bathroom, getting ready, I really miss a wash."

He chuckled and I headed for the restrooms.


	16. Chapter 15 - Traitor

**+15+ - Traitor**

About an hour later we had left the zoo amd headed to the laboratory. Tom wanted to accompany us and had brought a friend of his as support (well, I´m still not sure if ´friend´ is the right word to describe their relationship).

Tom had told us, that George, as the man was named, owed him a favour, because Tom had saved his wife and son. But obviously there was more that George had to put right, we were told that he had tried to steal from the community´s food stocks (which would explain his body shape). George was short, chubby with a mustache, blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

„This is George.", Tom had said. „He will support us in our little ´mission´".

George obviously hated to help us. He was incredibly grumpy.

„I´m still not convinced.", he had said.

„George, we´ve discussed this!"

„And you know I am only doin´this ´cause you saved my family! Which one is this doctor anyway?"

„well, that would be me.", the Doctor had said, arms folded.

The only thing George had replied him with was laughter.

„ _Him?"_ , he had turned to Tom. „You´re giving our lives in the hands of some baby-faced hipster? He propably doesn´t even know what he´s doing!"

I had opened my mouth, but the Doctor had stopped me.

„Just let him talk.", he had whispered.

„Bill trusts him, that´s enough for me.", Tom stood up for the Doctor.

„Are you serious? Look at him! He´s not even old enough to be a proper doctor!"

„I think I am more than proper, thank you.", the Doctor had growled.

„George, I strongly advise you...", Tom had started, but Bill interrupted him.

„To shut your mouth and just do that job."

„Exactly."

„Alright, alright, sitll don´t see why I´m risking my life for this bloke."

„He really is lovely.", I murmured, unfortunately not quietly enough for George not to hear it, so he had turned and looked at me.

„Oh, _please_ tell me she´s staying here, I´m not gonna play babysitter!"

„I am twentythree!", the Doctor put a hand on my shoulder to clam me down.

„Geroge, you´ve got a bunch of things to put right, so if you want to stay part of this community...", George had interrupted Tom: „..I´ll do the job, yeah I´ve got that. Well, then let´s go and let´s get it over with."

So, now we were in a small appartment right opposite the lab. It was hard to see since we couldn´t turn any lights unless we didn´t want to be seen.

Tom and George were still outside to check the number of soldiers and possible points to enter the building.

Dr. Rhymes and the Doctor were discussing the test they wanted to run on the specimen they had taken from the dead infected man back in the village. Bill was carving a toy for Pete´s daughter and I was at the window, looking out for Tom and George. They were sneaking back through a hole in the fence that was surrounding the lab´s area.

„We know now why there is so many military in the city.", Tom tols us when they entered the room. „The president is in town."

„There´s a president?", I asked.

„Burr Naven.", Bill said. „he got voted about 6 years ago, shortly before the infection spread."

I looked at the Doctor. „I never heard of him. I mean, when we were travelling more far in the future."

„Time can be rewritten.", he simply said. I took a step closer and whispered, so that the others couldn´t hear it.

„Also fits into your theory. He gets voted and a year later the infection spreads? That´s barely a coincidence, I think."

The alien nodded.

„Also reassures me in the trap theory.", he straightened his bowtie. „But I´ll still go to see who it is that I will have to stop."

He winked at me, but I didn´t return it nor the smile he gave me. I knew he was mad and clever, and surely he had played through thousands of situations we could possibly get in, but I still was worried about him running _knowningly_ into a trap.

 _They´re not clever enough for him._

Or at least, I hoped so.

„What the hell are you talking about? Time travel?", George asked.

„Nothing.", Tom cut him off.", Now let´s get going, we need to get in before the sun rises again."

George and Tom lead us close to the hole in the fence through which they had gotten into the area and explained to Bill where we could get in without being seen.

„George and I will distract the military and you can get in. Just wait untily the soldiers on the east side leave their positions, okay?"

„Alright.", Bill said, hugging Tom before he and George left.

So, we waited, hiding behind a small piece of a destroyed wall. „What were you two talking about in the apartment?", Bill suddenly asked.

„Oh, I have this theory about who´s responsible for all this.", the Doctor said, looking around to see if the soldiers were still there.

„ _Who?_ So, you really think this all could be caused by a human?", Dr. Rhymes said.

„After all, it´s possible, yes."

„That would be immense news.", Bill stated.

From where I was cowering I had a perfect view on the soldiers. And after there was a loud bang and something that looked kike fireworks (Propably a signal rocket) the two soldiers left their post.

„They´re gone!"

„Hurry!", Bill said, leading us the way.

We entered the area through the hole in the fence right next to the entrance gate. Then we ran along the small path to the main entrance, where we could hide behind some bushes to escape the light of the searchlight that was coming from above us. They were three of those lights on the roof top of the main building. We made the rest of the way along the walls and were more than lucky that noone saw us.

„I think here it is.", Bill said when we reached a door that had been replaced by a wooden plate.

„This will take a bit."

He took a hammer out of his backpack and started to loosen the nails that kept the door closed.

„You really need to hurry, they´ll be coming back soon.", Dr. Rhymes said.

„And the searchlights aren´t really helping.", I added.

My heartbeat was racing right now, I was incredibly nervous.

The Doctor licked his lips, when the spotlight turned around again.

„It´s coming back!"

So, into the bushes again. When the light was gone Bill worked on the plate again, when the searchlight came back he hid with us and so it went on until the plate was lossley enough to be yanked open.

Then, suddenly, there was a light from the small building on the opposite. A floodlight, pointing directly at us. I raised my arm to protect my eyes from the glaring light.

„Stay where you are! Do not move!", a voice came through a loudhailer.

The Doctor and Bill had raised their arms, while Dr. Rhymes seemed incredibly calm.

„Just get in.", Bill said. „Get in and try to escape through the tunnel system beneath."

„If you move they will shoot you.", Dr. Rhymes said, reaching for something in his pocket.

I could see soldiers running towards us.

„You were right, it was a trap.", I stated. Now I wondere if it was actually possible to _hear_ my heartbeat because it went so incredibly fast.

„Yeah, obviously."

„Well, at least it still worked. You came and now the president will see you.", Dr. Rhymes said, looking at the Doctor.

„What the hell are you talking about?", Bill spat, as Rhymes pulled his gun out of his pocket and aimed it at the alien.

„What are you doing?", I shrieked.

„Oh, so you´re one of them, eh?", the Doctor asked.

Dr. Rhymes laughed. „Yes, I am. Funny how things turn out, isn´t it?"

 _He lured us in! That bastard!_

The soldiers had reached us and every single one of them was pointing their gun at us, which made me incredibly nervous.

„And what happens now?", the Doctor asked, „Are we arrested? What do you want with us?"

„Oh, with those two", he pointed at Bill and then at me „.. nothing. Our interest is all yours."

„Well, I feel honoured.", the Doctor growled.

„Ah, well there he comes."

I turned my head to see a black Dodge driving towards us. Obviously this was the president´s car. Actually I had imagined a meeting with one of the presidents as a bit..calmer. My whole body was trembling and I really couldn´t deny how much I was actually afraid of dying. I would never admit it to the Doctor, but I was really, really scared of death.

The car had stopped and the driver got out to open the back door.

The president was quite tall, at least the same height as the Doctor, his suit was elegant and propably incredibly expensive. His hair was dark, but is eyes were bright, grey and sparkling at the sight of my friend.

„Ah, hello.", he said, ignoring all the saluting soldiers and walking straight to the Doctor. „Burr Naven, glad you could make it.", he smiled.

The Doctor didn´t return it, all he did was giving the man an angry gaze and a growl.

„What did you do to those people?"

„Ohh, getting straight down to business.", he laughed, winking at Rhymes who just proudly smiled. „I like that."

„What do you want?", the Doctor hissed. His voice made me shiver, now he was fully _oncoming storm_.

„All in good time, but now you mention it. I want you, the rest is useless. Shoot them.", he gestured to the soldiers.

His words still rang in my ears when time suddenly seemed to be moving in slow motion. Although everything happend so fast I could notice every detail.

A soon as Naven had finished the sentence I could see the Doctor´s face fall.

I heard the clicking sounds of the weapons and I stopped breathing, my eyes grew wide. I saw Bill turning his head in horror and the Doctor reaching out for me. I felt is hand on my arm and that he pulled and a second later we were in the floor and there were shots, so many shots.

„Stop!", Naven yelled. „Be careful, I need him alive!"

There were a few seconds of silence, I could feel tears running down my face and the Doctor´s breathing in my neck. He lay on top of me, protecting me like a shield.

„Check him!" I felt him being yanked away from me and someone grabbed me and helped me up. I was shaking like mad.

„She´s alive."

„You didn´t have to do this!", the Doctor yelled, struggeling with the soldiers who held him.

„Well, seems like she´s important to you.", Naven grinned. „Which obviously wasn´t the case with him.", he said with a nod behind me.

 _Oh my god, Bill!_

He gave a sign to the soldiers and they let go of us, causing me to almost slip to the floor again. The Doctor studded me and I gladly leaned onto him.

„Are you okay?", he asked, hugging me tightly."

„Yeah, I think so, just in shock I think.", I could still feel tears running down my face. „Bill..", I said tried to turn around to see how he was, but the Doctor stopped me.

„Don´t.", he said softly. The tears got more.

„Is he..", I wanted to turn my head around to where he was standing, but the Doctor placed a hand on my cheek to stop me again.

„Please, don´t." I looked into his eyes and nodded and again he hugged me as I couldn´t hold back the crying anymore.


	17. Chapter 16 - Close

+16+ - Close

„ **Sir, should we finish the execution?"**

„ **Naah. Let him have his pet for a little while longer."**

 **The Doctor turned his head to face the president again.**

„ **You didn´t have to kill him."**

 **The president grinned.**

„ **No, but I could. "**

„ **What do you want from me?"**

„ **Well, just a little help with our zombie-problem", Naven smiled.**

„ **Then why wouldn´t you let me run the tests? And why use force? I was doing it out of free will already!"**

 **Naven laughed, Rhymes joined in.**

 **Ena and the Doctor changed confused looks.**

„ **No, not like that Doctor. You wanted to _save_ them, but I want you to _improve_ them. See, the thing with them is, they can be killed too easy."**

„ **What the hell are you talking about?!", the Doctor barked.**

„ **The aim of this virus was to create an army, soldiers that won´t feel pain and are fearless. The thing is, they can be executed very easily, although they are dead already. Shot in the head? What a cliche. No, I want soldiers that can be shot at as much as you like, but won´t die."**

„ **An army? What for?"**

„ **That´s none of your business."**

„ **And what do you mean ´ _won´t die´?"_**

 _ **He can´t possibly mean... that´s insane it would never work!**_

 **Now Dr. Rhymes spoke.**

„ **Oh, common, don´t act like you´re stupid. You´re a Time Lord, I´m quite sure you absolutely know what we are talking about."**

 **The Doctor licked his lips.**

„ **That´s insane and absolutely impossible!"**

„ **We´d like to try anyway.", Naven smiled. „Now, would you please be so kind and get into my car?"**

„ **Why would I?", the Time Lord growled.**

 **Ena was still shaking and crying in his arms, she didn´t really seem to notice what was going on anymore. He couldn´t blame her, he had been the same the first time he had been present when someone died.**

„ **Do it, or I let them finish the execution."**

„ **Still wouldn´t do it."**

 **Naven laughed.**

„ **Well, first you saved her by literally throwing yourself upon her and now you´re acting like you don´t care if she dies? You really should figure out your feelings, man.", he grinned. „Do you really think the whole part of ´Kill her, I don´t care´- thing will still be working now?" He waved his hand.**

 **He struggled when the soldiers grabbed him and pulled him away, forcing him to let go of his companion. She sobbed and looked up, but she stayed where she was, even when one of the soldiers pointed his gun on her, although she was still terribly shaking.**

„ ** _One_..."**

„ **Don´t!" He tried in vain to get out of the soldiers´ grip, but they were clenching his arms even more, the harder he tried.**

„ ** _Two.._."**

 **He could see her closing her eyes.**

„ **Stop this! There is no need for this! Let her go!"**

„ **You made your choice.", Naven winked at him.**

„ **Please!"**

„ ** _Thr..._ "**

 **Before Naven could finish the word a shot fell and the soldier, who was pointing his gun at Ena just dropped to the floor. Shocked, the girl stared down onto him. The Doctor looked around to see where the shot came from and when he turned his head to the left he saw a jeep, a military jeep, driving straight towards them.**

„ **What the hell is going on?!", Naven barked, when the jeep took down the fence by straight driving through it.**

 **The soldiers holding the Doctor loosened their grip, ready to pull out their weapons, which gave the Time Lord the opportunity to yank his arms free.**

„ **No!", Naven yelled. „Hold him!"**

 **The jeep came very close at an incredible speed, heading right towards the bunch of soldiers who quickly tried to get out of the way by running or jumping to the left or the right.**

„ **Stay down!", Tom yelled from the driver´s seat, while George, who was standing at the back of the jeep, where the machine gun was, started firing.**

 **Quickly, the Doctor ducked and started crawling to his companion, who had also followed Tom´s order and lay flat down on the floor.**

„ **Just stay down!", he yelled over the noise when he had reached her and together they creeped towards the jeep. He could hear the noise of a car leaving with screeching tires. Then suddenly, silence.**

„ **They´ve run out of munition.", the Doctor stated.**

 **Which was bad for them, because the soldiers were still there and still armed.**

„ **Common!", he grabbed Ena´s hand ran the rest of the way to the jeep, pulling her with him.**

 **The military soldiers recognized the situation way too fast and got out of their shelters, firing at the four of them.  
„Drive!", George yelled as soon as the Doctor and the girl were on board and Tom hit the gas very hard, causing the jeep to race backwards.**

 **Then he broke sharply to change the gang and instead raced forward.**

 **The soldiers didn´t have a chance of following them, but still Tom didn´t stop until they had reached the other end of the closed area.**

 **Noone was talking, everyone just got out of the car.**

„ **What happened to your leg?", the Doctor asked when he saw George´s tigh. It was bleeding.**

„ **Oh, that´s just a graze."**

„ **Let me look at that.", the Doctor offered.**

„ **Not now.", Tom said, helping Ena get out if the car. „We need to get away from that car. They will be looking for us."**

 **So, they started walking.**

„ **How did you get that car?", the Doctor asked.**

„ **Was quite easy, we pulled the soldier´s out, tied them up and got ourselves in the car.", George said, already panting.**

„ **Can you manage a few more minutes of walking?", Tom asked. I think I can see something to hide in at the crossover over there."**

 **George nodded.**

„ **As soon as we saw what they had done to Bill we knew we had to do something and then we saw the jeep.", Tom told us.**

„ **Well, you saved our lives, thank you.", the Doctor said and Tom nodded.**

„ **Is she alright?", he whispered nodding behind him where Ena was walking.**

„ **I don´t think so.", the Doctor answered.**

I couldn´t remeber when we had reached the abandonend flat we were now hiding in. Actually, I couldn´t remember anything except the fact that Bill had died. I remembered the noise and the shots, but I couldn´t find the right pictures to it.

„You´re in shock, that´s all.", the Doctor said, patting my hand.

He had been doing some check-up on me.

We were in the kitchen, while Tom and George were in the living room, trying to create something we could sleep on.

I had stopped crying a few minutes ago, I hadn´t even realized I had been crying all the way to here. It was embarrasing. When thinking about how Clara and the Doctor seem to deal with all this stuff I just felt so weak.

„I´m sorry.", I said in a very quiet voice.

„Sorry for what?", he asked, sitting next to me on the worktop.

„Well, I´m obviously not made to be a companion of yours.", I said. „I´m a crybaby and I´m kind of instable, I mean emotionally. I must be holding you up all the time."

I couldn´t bring myself to look at him, I just felt so weak and stupid. How could I ever be thinking I could deal with something like this?

„No, no.", he said, actually a bit shocked (to my surprise). „That´s nonsene!"

I forced myself to look at him.

„What you had today is a totally normal reaction. You don´t need to be emotionally numded to be a good companion, actually, if you were you would make a terrible companion! Also, this is not an application where you need to prove that you´re worth the job. You´re here because you are my friend and I want to share all this stuff with you, like aliens and far away planets and the universe. You are a very sensitive and emotional young woman and I would never ask you to be something else. Emotions are good, emotions are what makes us alive, even if some of them actually make you feel like dying."

I smiled a bit.

„But don´t you ever believe I might think you´re weak or not worth it, because you´re really not, you´ve been through so much and yet you still became a great young woman and you really, really are a great friend. And don´t you dare thinking I would sent you away just because you mourn the loss of someone with all you´ve got!"

He placed a kiss on my forehead and jumped from the worktop.

„How did you know I was thinking that you´d sent me away?"

„I could see it in your face."

„Thank you for what you said.", was all I could say.

„Only telling the truth.", he gave me a smile and then left the room to check George´s tigh.


	18. Chapter 17 - Whispers

**+17+ - Whispers-**

„So, what do we do now? What next?", I asked.

Everyone had been silent since a few hours. George was the only one of us who had fallen asleep and his soft snoring was the only noise in the small room.

„I need to find a way to run these tests.", the Doctor said without looking up. He had crouched down on the floor with his back against the sofa I was sitting on. His elbows were on his knees and his chin restet on his folded hands.

„Is there any other lab we could use?", he asked Tom who was staring out of the window.

„There is one.", Tom said. „But I don´t know if the instruments are still working and how to get there. I haven´t been in this area since all this began. It´s ten hours from here."

„So, it´s outside the sealed area?", I asked.

„Yes. If we found a map we could find the way, but I have no idea how bad it is out there. That was Bill´s subject.", he added quietly.

We could see the grief in his eyes. He had lost his friend and I felt terribly sorry for him. I had tried to sleep, but everytime I closed my eyes I heard the shots and the noise Bill had made. A gasp of utter surprise.

„I need to find out what this virus is, I need to know what he has done to the people.", the stated Doctor unyielding.

He had been so silent and calm since we came here. The little peech he gave me in the kitchen really had made me feel better, but the way he stayed silent, lost in his thoughts and the fire in his eyes scared me a bit. He was angry, he was incredibly angry and he would tear everything apart to bring Naven to justice if necessary. Still I had questions.

„What do you think he wants an army for?"

„I´m not quite sure, but why do you get an army? When there´s a war coming. Whatever he´s got planned must be something big and very, very bad.", he said. „Or he just wants to have power, whatever it is we need to stop him."

„What did he mean when he said that he wants soldiers that cannot be executed by the head-thing? What does it have to do with you?"

This time he turned around and looked at me. He didn´t say a word, he just looked at me and I understood. Tom who somehow seemed to understand that this conversation wasn´t made for his ears, went into the bathroom and closed the door. George was still snoring.

„He can´t mean...", I started whsipering. „No, that´s.. is that even possible?"

I finally got out in a shocked tone.

„I don´t think so, it won´t work on humans."

„You think that´s what he needs you for?"

„Well, he obviously was talking about _it_. I´m sure Rhymes told him about what I can do. There´s only one problem..."

„Yeah, you told me about that.", I whispered back. „So, how are we going to stop him?"

„First of all, I´ll find out what this virus is, is it alien or is it something completley composed by chemistry? Then we´ll find out where his base is and pay him a visit. After I have developed a cure of course."

„Do you really think it will be that easy?", I looked at him doubtfully.

„No, but I´d like to have some hope!"

„Yeah, sorry."

We fell silent for a while. We could hear Tom rummaging in the bathroom and George´s snoring had become louder.

„How are you feeling?", the Doctor suddenly asked.

I got off the sofa and sat next to him on the floor with my back against it, my left shoulder slightly touched his left one.

„Honestly?"

„Of course.", he said softly.

„I feel like shit."

I could see him almost laughing at my answer, then he looked at me with an serious expression on his face.

„Stop swearing."

„I think after this day I deserve to use the word ´shit´."

He grinned and slightly nudged me with his shoulder.

„I know, I´m sorry."

„It wasn´t your fault."

„I took you with me. I took everyone of you with me, I wanted to find out what this disease is and I put you all in danger."

„We had this conversation already before we went to the lab. It´s not your fault, we wanted to help you."

„But it´s always like that, all these people who have died for me... and you _you_ could have died today."

He looked at me with this puppy eyes which at the same time were so old, yet ancient. And I didn´t really know what to tell him. There had been books about him and things that Clara had told me about him and it was true. People died for him, many people and I could tell from the look he gave me that he was so _sick_ of it.

„But you saved me.", I stated. „Without I´d be dead. I´d be like swiss cheese.", I managed to joke.

He smiled, but it was a sad smile.

„You´re saving people, Doctor and you always seem to forget that." I placed my head on his shoulder and he leaned his temple against my head.

„There will come a day when I won´t be able to save you.", he whispered after we had been sitting like this for a while, but I only heard it from very far away before I drifted into sleep.


	19. Chapter 1 - A storm

+18+ A storm

It was raining buckets. The whole way from the appartement we had been hiding in to the border took us about 2 hours, because the military was everywhere now. They were looking for us and it seemed like they had doubled the number of soldiers in this area. Maybe they had found the jeep.

I had changed my clothes before we got off. I still had the jeans and shirt in my bag that Pete had given me back in the village. The Doctor´s hair sticked to his forehead and Tom´s curls had gone. We were soaking wet.

I still don´t know how we made it through the border. The soldiers had been everywhere and still we hadn´t been seen. We walked for another two hours before we stopped and allowed ourselves to rest. We had found an old powerhouse to hide in and give us shelter from the storm that was coming. We could hear the thunder getting closer. The powerstation was huge, several big rooms with machines in it which looked like something I wouldn´t understand even if it was explained to me.

„That went suprisingly well.", Tom said after we had checked the rooms for other people or Infected.

„Yeah, I really thought they´d get us at the border.", George said.

„I´m pretty sure they will be looking outside the borders too.", Tom added and the Doctor nodded.

„We need to keep our eyes open."

I sat down on the ground leaning against the wall and had a look at my water bottle. It was empty. The Doctor took his backpack and threw it over to me.

„Left pocket on the outside.", he said.

„What about you?"

„Time Lord.", he simply said.

I took a tiny mouthfull of water and stuffed the bottle back into the bag.

„Right, we should have some sleep and then continue the journey. We need to get away from here as fast as possible or they will find us. Let´s have some rest and then we´ll check this place to see if we can find something useful.", Tom said and everyone agreed to that.

I woke up again when the storm had fully arrived. The thunder was so loud I almost got an heart attack and the lighting was so bright it felt like someone was taking pictures of me with flashlights. Tom and George had also woken up.

The rain pattered hard against the windows and except of the lightings now and then it was almost completely dark.

„Must be one hell of a storm.", George muttered while getting up.

There where lots of puddles on the ground where the water had went through the rottened ceiling of the building.

All of us tensed when we heard someone scream.

The Doctor!

„That came from the cellar!", Tom called and sprinted towards a corridor. George and I followed him. We came to a stair that led down into the darkness and I could see the Doctor standing down at the end of the stair, face white as a sheet and wide eyes.

„They´re here! They´re down there!", he panted, hands both hands clenching to the rail.

Then we heard the noises. Growling, howling, rattling. Zombies.

„We need to get out of here, right now!", the Doctor said sprinting upstairs, towards us. There was a scratch across his left cheek.

„How many?", Tom had just asked when the first few of the Infected already had reached the place the Doctor had stood just half a minute ago and began to run up the stairs.

„Run!", the Doctor just yelled and grabbed my arm so I had to follow him.

George and Tom did the same. The Doctor headed back to the main room where we had been resting to collect the backpacks.

„We´ll need them.", he just said and Tom and George grabbed their stuff and started to fire at the creatures.

But there were so many of them. Around thirty snarling, growling, hungry zombies had started to surround us and they were incredibly fast. While Tom and George shot at them we made our way to the front door.

„You two!", Tom shouted to the Doctor and me, „Get out first! We´ll follow!"

The Doctor and I spun around only to find that the zombies had sorrounded us completely by now. There was no way out.

„Uhm...", the Doctor said and looked around in despair as if suddenly there would be a door out of nowhere through which we could escape.

„We need a plan!", I shouted.

I pulled the handgun from belt and slackened it like Duncan had showed me.

I tried to aim at the creatures, but I was shaking terribly which made things a bit hard. I didn´t shoot.

„Use your screwdriver!", I yelled over the noise of growling and shooting.

„What?!"

„The thing you sometimes do! When you play that high pitched tone? Maybe it works on them!"

„Good idea!"

We were back to back now and I could feel him fumbling with something.

Then the tone came. I hated it. It gave me an almost unberable head ache and my ears were ringing. Tom and George screamed in agony and stopped shooting. It took us a few mometns to realise that it was working. The Infected were screaming and squirming and running around with no real direction.

„Now! Evereyone outside!", the Doctor yelled over the noise and we sprinted to the door. Which huge effort we closed the door again and the Doctor locked it with his screwdriver.

„Dear god.", I said breathless. „I´m so glad that worked."

„Yeah.", the Doctor said and gave me a smile.

„Holy shit!", George said „I really thought this would be the end."

„We should have checked the cellar.", Tom added.

The storm was still going on and my hair and clothes were already completely wet. The thunder growled above us and the wind made our hair wave in every possible direction.

„Alright then, let´s get away from here."

This time we found a little house to hide in. The ceiling was intact, so no rain came through and all four of us could sleep in a bed.

We had checked the house for Infected so we wouldn´t have to go through another surprise attack.

After the Doctor had checked on George´s leg again (after we got here his pain had increased) he came into the room where we would be resting. This had definetly been the kids room. There were toys in it and the bed was a bunk bed. Tom had told us that outside the city it would be the other way around, meaning it would be safer to travel by day, because of all the Infected.

So, this time we were going to sleep at night.

„Will you be sleeping too?", I asked as he sat down at the edge of the bed below.

He had changed his wet clothes and wore the shirt and jeans again that he got back in the village. Again it was weird seeing him in „normal" clothes.

I had to change back to my dress because my shirt and jeans were soaking wet.

„Maybe two or three hours that would be enough. We need to be fit tomorrow."

„What´s that?", I asked, pointing at my own cheek.

His hand went hup to the scratch in his face.

„Oh, that. I might have panicked a bit when I saw the zombies. I ran into a broken piece of mesh wire. Nothing to worry about it´ll be gone tomorrow morning."

„You heal that fast?", I admired.

„Yes.", he smiled.

„Wow. Well, then let´s go get some sleep."

„Uhm...", the Doctor just said and looked at me with his green eyes.

His face said it all. The big eyes, the pouty mouth.

„You want the upper bed.", I stated and his face lit up and a huge smile appeared. With a sigh I struggled free from the blankets and went down the ladder again.

„I love bunkbeds!", the Doctor smiled happily and made his way up the ladder with the enthusiam if a five year old while I crawled into the bed below and covered myself in the blankets.

„Good night, Doctor."

He was already sleeping, breathing regularly and calm.


	20. Chapter 19 - Taken

**+19+ - Taken**

The sun warmed our skin and the trees were slowly moving in the summer breeze. The earth hadalready dried from the rain yesterday due to the hot temperatures. Ihad changed back into my dress. It was full of dirt and blood, but Ididn't care, it was much too hot to wear the jeans. At least my legswere shaved (I always carried around razer blades for my shaver in case I had to sleep somwhere unexpectetly and I hated that the hairon my legs and armpits grew so fast. Kind of a werid habit, I know).

We went off early in the morning, as soon as the first rays of sunlight could be seen. Weh ad left to the north, where, Tom had told the Doctor „we could find another lab that you can your tests in."

Tu our delight, we hadfound a map back in the house. Right now we were standing in theartrium of an university. Around us were four buildings, the big main building and three smaller ones. We had decided to look around to seeif could find something to use as weapons or other stuff.

As we entered the main building we decided to split up. The Doctor and George went to the left whereas Tom and me went to the right wing.

„Always stay behind me in case there are Infected or worse... other people."

„A gang maybe?"

„Yes."

„Well, I really don't desire to meet another one. The last one was enough for a while."

„I can imagine that. You were lucky you escaped them."

„Yes, very. And I'm really grateful we did."

We entered a room to our left which turned out to be the cafeteria. One of the windows of the of the glass facade was broken and the wind gently blew some green leaves and pollen in.

Tom headed for the kitchen and I followed him.

„Knives! Brilliant!"

He took the two knives that had been left in one of the drawers. The rest of the kitchen was pretty empty.

„Seems like others have been here before.", Tom stated.

We left the kitchen and went to the next room. A restroom. The next door also was a restroom (this time obviously for men) and a broom closet.

„Okay, maybe we should go upstairs.", Tom said. „I think that's where the auditoriums are."

And he had been right. There were lots of auditoriums, but unfortunately they contained nothing whe could use.

„I don't think we'll succeed here, we should have a look at the cellar and the hostels for the students."

I nodded and we got back to the corridor. Then we froze. There was a loud bang as one of the other doors flung open and something sprinted towards me. I didn't even had the time to screem before I got banged against the wall and everything went black.

 **George hadn't spoken a word since they had parted from Ena and Tom. He was still hobbling and one could see he was still in pain because of his injured leg.**

„ **If there's anything I can do..."**

„ **No.", George intrrupted him. „You start at the end of the corridor I'll start here."**

 **The Doctor sighed and headed to the last room on the right. The library. Carefully he hopened the door and listened. He couldn't here a thing, so he entered the room. Moving between the shleves he kept his eyes open for anything that could be of use, but unfortunately there wasn't much of that. But in in corner he finally found a first aid kid.**

„ **Brilliant!"**

 **He also found several news papers from 2033 with reports about the virus. It was like Mullet had said, patient zero seemed to be a little girl in Rainbow City. Five year old Abigail Turner had turned into a monster over night and tried to bite her mum.**

„ **That's weird.", the Doctor thought out loud. „I thought the virus only spreads when the host is already dead."**

 **His thoughts got interrupted by a loud bang and screams that came from above them. Quickly, he turned on his heels and ran back into the corridor where he saw George already running towards the stairs.**

„ **Tom?!", he yelled. There was no answer, only growling and snapping.**

„ **Oh no."**

 **Then Tom came down the stairs, carrying an unconscious Ena in his arms.**

„ **What happened?", the Doctor snapped.**

„ **She got thrown against the wall, we need to get out of here!"**

 **They turned and ran out, away from the creatures and back into the artrium, only to find that there were more Infected coming towards them.**

„ **Where the hell do they all come from?!", George yelled and opened fire. Tom handed the girl over to the Doctor, so he had his hands free to help George.**

„ **We need to get out of the enclosed area!", Tom yelled.**

 **Which was easier said than done, because the gate, which meant an exit forthe Doctor and the others, also meant an entrance to the creatures. Half of the artrium was now filled with zombies. They were dragging the Doctor and his companions back towards the main building.**

„ **We'll never make it!", George growled.**

„ **We need to get back in and then close the doors! It will give us abetter chance to defend ourselves!", the Doctor yelled.**

 **Tom and George agreed with him and they ran back into the main building. While the Doctor let Ena down and put her on her feed, stadying her,after she had woken up, Tom and George tried to close the door. The mass of bodies pushing against the huge wooden doors didn't make things any easier. Arms were reaching through the gap between the two doors.**

„ **Thisre ally is 'The Walking Dead'.", Ena mumbled, still dizzy.**

„ **This isn't working, we can't close the doors!", Tom told the Doctor.  
„Get upstairs!"**

„ **Come on." As soon as the Doctor had turned around and started to guide his companion to the stairs he saw a shadow around the corner.**

 **Then he felt a hot, tingling sensation in his neck. He had to stop and as he reached to touch his neck his vision already blurred. Ena, still dizzy herself, reached out for him.**

„ **Doctor!"**

 **He could feel something, something weird in his neck.**

„ **Hold still!", Ena ordered and carefully plunged the thing out.**

 **Whatever was happening to him wasn't good, he felt incredibly uncomfortable, dizzy and tired, his legs seemed to be made out of pudding.**

„ **It's a dart.", Ena informed him, showing the dart to him.**

„ **It's a tranquilizer.", the Doctor stated hoaresly.**

„ **What?"**

„ **It's a trap."**

 **He swayed and this time it was Ena's turn to stady him.**

 **Tom and George were still desperatly trying to close the doors and didn't notice anything that happened behind them. They were cutting at the arms of the creatures with their knives now, to clear the gap.**

„ **Don't you dare to pass out, right now!", Ena yelled at him, as his legs gave in under the Time Lord's own weight.**

 **Then she also saw the shadow around the corner. Suddenly soldiers were running into the corridor. At the same time the doors gave in under the pressure of the creatures and Tom and George had to let go off them.**

„ **Upstairs, now!". Tom yelled.**

 **Then, he saw the soldiers and his face froze.**

 **They had yanked the unconcious Time Lord out of Ena's arms and carried him to the back entrance. Ena screamed at them and wanted to follow them, but they opened fire and she backed away.**

„ **Come on!", Tom shot back and grabbed her around the waist, dragged her upstairs,away from the creatures, but also away from her friend.**

„ **Wen eed to help him! Let go off me!"**

„ **We can't help him now!", George snappeed as the creatures followed them.**

„ **Doctor! Let me go!"**

 **With great efford they managed to drag her into the common room for students and block the doors.**

„ **We need to get after them!", Ena said, tears in her eyes.**

„ **First of all, we need to get out of here, away from those** _ **things."**_

„ **Look!", Tom said, heading to the oppsite side of the room. „It as a balcony with a fire ladder!"**

 **Quickly, they opened the door and got out to the balcony. They were now facing the street the back entrance lead to.**

 **Theywatched as the soldiers strapped the unconcious Doctor to a stretcherand pulled it into their van. They raced down the fire ladder, but it was too late.**

 **The wires screeched as the van drove off.**


	21. Chapter 20 - Is this really happening?

**+20+ - Is this really happening?**

I woke up with an incredible headache. It took me a bit to realize where I was. Someone was carrying me and there were an awaful lot of noises which only increased my headache.

„The doors won´t close!", someone yelled and a voice, very close to my ear, responded.

„Try harder! We have to keep them out!"

I groaned as the voice rang in my head and made it feel like it was going to expolde.

„Ena? Are you awake?"

„Doctor...", I lifted my head from his shoulder and opened my eyes. Everyhting was a bit blurry. We were still in the main building, but we were downstairs again. At the entrance I saw Tom and George who were trying to close the door to keep out a horde of infected. I was completely awake at an instant.

„Dear god.", I gasped.

„Do you think you can stand?", the Doctor asked and I nodded so he put me down on my feed. But my legs still where shaky and I had to lean into him for support.

„This really is _The Walking Dead."_ , I said.

When the creatures increased their pressure onto the door we realized that we didn´t have a chance. There was no way of shutting the doors again.

„This isn´t working, we can´t close the doors!", Tom told the Doctor, „Get upstairs!"

He waved at us to give a sign to tell us we should go and that George and him would follow.

„Come on!", the Doctor said, helping me by putting an arm around me me so I could walk on my still week legs. We turned towards the stairs, but suddenly he stopped, looking to the corner where the corridor continued into another direction. He gasped.

For a moment I was sure he´d seen something, then he let go off me and raised both his hands to his neck. I turned around to see what he was doing, there was a dart in his neck! Small ad silver it had pierced through his skin.

 _Where the hell did that came from?!_

„Doctor!"

He looked like he was going to faint any second now, pearls of sweat had already formed on his forehead.

„Hold still!", I instructed, gently pushing his hands aside to pull out the dart.

I showed it to him.

„It´s a dart."

He looked at it, pale as a sheet.

„It´s a tranquilizer.", he croaked.

„What?"

 _No, no, no... that would mean.._

„It´s a trap.", he said almost in a whisper and swayed, reaching out for support. I tried to steady him by grabbing his upper arms. His hands clenched my arms. Behind us Tom and George were still trying to close the door, they had noticed that something wasn´t right and tried to buy us more time to get upstairs. They wouldn´t succeed much longer.

The Doctor gasped again, he was starting to lean his weight onto me. It would be a lie to say that I wasn´t frightened.

„Don´t you dare to pass out right now!", I yelled at him in panic.

„Sorry...", he whipsered as his legs gave in and he fell.

I tried to catch him, but the fact that he was at least 5 inches taller than me and his weight was too much for me. At least I succeeded in laying him onto floor instead of having him crashing into it.

Then I saw what he had seen. A shadow that moved. Someone was in the shadows around the corner. Then, everyhting went incredibly fast. Soldiers were storming in, they came into our corridor and before I even realized what was going on they had reached us and grabbed the sleeping Time Lord.

„No!"

I got on my feed to follow them, but they started firing (it´s a miracle they didn´t hit me).

„Come on", Tom yelled, he was beside me now, shootig back. The doors at the entrance flung open and the creatures made their way in. The soldiers started firing at them, so we had time to make it upstairs. Tom had grabbed me with one arm around my waist and dragged me along wih him. My mind was racing all I could think of was saving my friend, as they were caarrying him awayy.

„We need to help him!", I yelled as I got dragged upstairs, the creatures close behind us.

„We can´t help him now!", Geroge snapped at me, but somehow my rationality had gone. I still fought against Tom´s grip.

„We need to get after them!", I desperatly cried.

„First of all we need to get out of here and away from those things!"

I was dragged on the balcony of the room we had been escaping to. George had blocked the door with a small cupboard, but it propably wouldn´t last very long. We looked for a way down. The balcony had a fire ladder. As soon as I realized that it led to the same street the back entrance did I pulled free from Tom´s grip. Down on the street the soldiers carried the Doctor to a stretcher and strapped him down to it before they pulled it into one of their vans.

I reached the end of the ladder as the last soldier got into the vehicle and they drove off to follow their little clumn.

The wires screeched as they hit the gas.

 _No! Come back! Doctor!_

Although I knew it was pointless I was still running after them. Tom was close behind me, grabbing me as I didn´t stop running, although the van was now completly out of sight. He turned me around so I had to face him and pulled into a hug. I just sobbed into his chest.

„I´m sorry.", he said.

I coulcn´t hide my desperation, I knew crying was so pointless and would not help any of us, but I couldn´t stop, until...

Until I heard the sound. I tensed and my sobbing stopped.

 _It´s..._

The sound got louder. I freed myself from Tom´s arms and turned around to see where the sound was coming from.

„What´s that noise?", George asked.

„It´s..", but I forgot what I was about to say when I watched as the TARDIS materialized infront of us.

I stared at the big blue box.

„What the hell is that?", George snapped.

I didn´t hear him at all, all I could do was stare. The door swung open and for a moment I hoped it would be the Doctor, jumping out and saying something like: „Hey, I escaped! Brilliant, eh? Love it when I do that! Oh, and I´ve got my TARDIS back!" That´s what he would say, while gesturing wildly with his hands and wearing a bright smile.

But it wasn´t the Doctor. A female figure slowly walked out, wearing wedges, black trousers and a pretty blouse.

„Clara!", I gasped and stumbled towards her.

„It´s you!", she said, hugging me tight, „What happened?"

I held back a sob, than I told her what had happened since the Doctor and I had landed here.


	22. Chapter 21 - Truth

**+21+ - Truth**

 **He blinked against the light as he opened his eyes, but soon decided to close them again. The bright neon lights at the ceiling were too much for his headache. He felt like everyhting around him was spinning and it made him feel sick.**

 **The Doctor slowly opened his eyes again and turned his head to the left, so he didnßt have to look directly into the lights. His neck was still itching and hurting where the dart had hit him. He tried to reach up and feel the wound, only to find that they had strapped him down to the bed he was lying in. His ankles and wrists were tied to the bedrail with leather bonds. He pulled at them, bit they were fastened too well. He sighed and let his head fall back into the pillow. Although he had been in situations like this before it still felt like he was in a nightmare.**

 _ **Waking up and finding yourself tied to a bed in a room that looks like a hospital? Awesome!**_

 **Looking around he found that he seemed to be in an actual hospital. The room was quite small, only big enough for one bed. To his left was a window (It seemed to be afternoon) and in the corner were a little table and a chair. On the chair he found his waistcoat, braces and bowtie. His watch lay on the table.**

 **The Doctor flinched when the door flew open and Dr. Rhymes walked in. The Doctor winced at the loud bang as Rhymes threw the door shut again.**

„ **Ah, you´re already awake!", he said, a smile creeping up his face.**

 **The Time Lord just glared angrily at him.**

„ **After you managed to escape last time we met, we have decided to make sure you´d stay this time.", Rhymes said and took the chair with the Doctor´s clothes on and placed it beside the bed.**

„ **Can´t say I enjoy your hospitality.", he said while Rhymes sat down. „Anyway, where am I?"**

„ **It´s a hospital as you might have already figured out.", Rhymes said.**

„ **Yes, but _where?"_**

 **Rhymes grinned.**

„ **That´s irrelevant for you."**

 **The Doctor sighed.**

„ **I still don´t completely understand what you want from me, but I can tell you that it won´t work!"**

„ **Well, I think it´s still worth a try.", Dr. Rhymes said with a sinister smile, „But unfortunately I am not allowed to discuss this with you. This will be the president´s privilege. At least it was him who wanted you to be here."**

„ **I still don´t really understand what he wants from me.", the Doctor stated again, although he was 100% sure of what Naven had planned.**

„ **Oh, I am pretty sure that you do know.", Rhymes grinned down at him, „But like I said: not allowed to talk about it." He raised his hands like he was about to say _I didn´t do it._**

„ **Listen, you could still make the right decision and let me..."**

„ **Oh, spare me that, Time Lord!", Rhymes interrupted him, „I already made my decision!"**

„ **Whatever he his offering you...", the Doctor tried, but again, got interrupted by Rhymes.**

„ **Power and richness! I could do whatever I want to!", he yelled with mad glint in his eyes.**

„ **And what will they be worth when there´s noone left to show them to?!", the Doctor hissed, „The more Infected the less people you can show your power to!"**

„ **Oh, I know that, but I don´t care. Also, he promised something else."**

„ **And what would that be?", the Doctor shifted a bit, his back started hurting and he was annoyed, by the fact that he couldn´t sit up, because of the restrains.**

„ **I am scientist, Doctor, I´ve been working for Torchwood, remember?"**

„ **Yes, I remember you mentioned it quite a lot, but that´s not actually an answer to..."**

 **Rhymes stopped the Doctor from talking by leaning over him and pressing his hand onto the Doctor´s mouth. The alien tried to move away, but didn´t succeed. His last words got muffled by Rhyme´s hand.**

 **Dr. Rhymes was leaning in so close to him now, that he could feel the man´s breath on his face.**

„ **In my years working for Torchwood I studied so many alien life forms, countless of them.", Dr. Rhymes told the Doctor, looking down at him like a predator who had just found his potential prey.**

„ **But I never had the chance to study the one that fascinated me the most, because there was only one member of this species left."**

 **The Doctor´s eyes widened, his breathing sharp. Dr. Rhymes was almost whipsering now.**

„ **I met an agent from the base in Cardiff once. I should really thank him for being so talkative about you and your kind."**

 _ **Jack...**_

„ **After all these years, I´ll be finally able to run studies on a Time Lord. That´s what he promised me: _you._ After we are done here, of course.", he laughed and sat back, his hand falling from the Doctor´s mouth.**

„ **You are insane!", he immediatly spat.**

 **Dr. Rhymes stood up.**

„ **See you later, anyway.", with that he strolled out of the room, the Doctor followed him with a gaze full of resentment.**

 **For a few hours nothing happened at all. The Doctor tried to think of a plan, but it was almost impossible without knowing the surroundings. Also, he wouldn´t get very fart while tied to a bed.**

 **When the door banged open again he startled and winced:**

„ **For gods sake! Can´t you open that door quietly?! I´m gonna have a doubke heart attack!"**

„ **I am deeply sorry.", came the respond in a sing sang voice. It remembered the Doctor a bit of The Master when he was Harold Saxon and a shiver ran down his spine.**

 **It was Naven.**

„ **Ah, mister president, hello!", he greeted with a gushy voice.**

 **The man chuckled.**

„ **Well, you seem to be in a good mood."**

 **He crossed the distance between the door and the bed and placed his hands on the rail at the end of the bed, looking down at his captive.**

„ **Nah, not really.", the Doctor said, now with his serious face on, „I already told Rhymes that I´m not really convinced of your hospitality."**

„ **And I am not convinced that you will stay, as soon as I untie you.", Naven said with a twinkle.**

„ **What do you think?", the Doctor responded with a cold smile.**

 **Naven went over to the chair that was still standing beside the bed and sat down on it. The Doctor turned his head so he could look at the president.**

„ **So, you are the president of the United States? Ot what´s left oft it at least.", he added.**

 **The man nodded, his face seemed awfully familiar, but the Doctor couldn´t tell from where he might know him yet. The Doctor shifted a bit under Navens gaze.**

„ **I´m glad you´re here.", he said.**

„ **Oh, really? Well, sorry, can´t say the same.", the Doctor told him.**

„ **Why am I here?", he then asked.**

„ **Oh, I´m sure you already figured that one out, mh? You´re incredibly clever, don´t act like your´re stupid."**

 **The Doctor fixed eyes with him.**

„ **It won´t work.", he stated in a firm voice.**

„ **I´d like to test that myself.", Naven responded.**

„ **I mean it.", the Doctor insisted, „Whatever Dr. Rhymes has told you about regeneration is.."**

„ **Ah, _regeneration_!", Naven interrupted the alien, „There´s the key word!"**

 **He grinned like a maniac.**

„ **You can´t extract it from me and you most certainly can´t put it into dead human´s bodies!", the Doctor almost yelled. He couldn´t believe how insane this plan was.**

„ **Well, I admit that we don´t have any expierence with the last bit, but I have notations and records on how to get regeneration-energy extracted from a Time Lord´s body and preserve it."**

„ **Forget what they´re saying, it won´t work!", the alien insisted.**

„ **Well, all we have to do is making you use it!", Naven hissed.**

 **The Doctor laughed.**

„ **And how exactly are you going to do that? `Cause this is my last body, I can´t ever do it again! If you kill me, to make me regenerate I´ll simply die, nothing else! No regeneration energy for you!"**

 **The Doctor had raised his voice with every word, so that, at the end of his last sentence he was acutally shouting at Naven.**

 _ **I have to make him believe me!**_

 **But Naven just smiled and gave him an amused look.**

„ **Yeah, like I don´t know that."**

 **The Doctor looked at him, puzzled.**

„ **You can´t possibly have known..."**

„ **Oh, Doctor, aren´t you asking youself why my face looks so familiar to you? I spent half of my life collecting every information about you, which was very hard, considering the fact that you had erased yourself from history. I know your energy won´t be enough to make a full regeneration, but it will be enough to heal major injuries, without using the healing-coma. Also, you can use it for others, like you did with your wife´s wrist."**

 **The Doctor just stared at him, his breathing was irregular and heavy. How could his man know all these things?!**

„ **Who are you?", he gasped.**

„ **I met her once, that River Song of yours. Lovely woman, but talks way too much under some drug´s influence."**

 **The Doctor pulled hard at his restrains: „Who are you? What have you done to her?!", he roared.**

„ **Calm down, I did nothing to her. Asked her some questions and than brought her back to her hotel room to let her sleep.", Naven answered, obviously amused by the Doctor´s outbreak.**

„ **Who the hell are you!", the Doctor roared.**

„ **Ah, oh dear, watch your tone, it doesn´t suit your pretty face.", Naven hissed, grabbed the Doctor´s chin and forced him too stay still.**

 **The Time Lord fought hard against the urge to just spit into his face.**

„ **You killed my brother."**

 _ **Wait, what?**_

 **Naven´s hand slipped from the Doctor´s chin to his neck.**

 **The Doctor tried to answer, but all he got out was coughing when the hand started to choke him.**

„ **I should kill you, like you did with him."**

 **Gasping desperatly for air the Doctor pulled hard at his restrains and squirmed under the man´s grip, which earned him an amused and satisfied grin by Naven.**

„ **Unfortunately I still need you.", the hand disappeared.**

„ **Who are you?", the Doctor rattled.**

„ **Does the name Slipstream ring a bell?"**

 **The Doctor´s eyes widened.**

„ **What?", he croaked.**

 **Naven laughed at the confused look on the alien´s face.**

„ **Dirk Slipstream was my brother, Burr Naven isn´t my real name. My name is John Slipstream."**

 **The Doctor just stared at him.**

 _ **No, no, no, no, no.. what?!**_

 **Slipstream laughed again.**

„ **Oh, my... did I make the mighty Time Lord speechless?", he mocked, leaning in closer again.**

„ **I.. I didn´t kill him! He was killed by the Sollogs!", the Doctor stated.**

„ **Yeah, but only because you threw the Mymon Key into that swamp!", now it was Slipstream who roared.**

„ **I had to! That key was way too powerful it had to be destroyed!"**

„ **At the coast of his life?!"**

„ **I warned him about the Sollogs, but he didn´t listen! He was just as insane as you are!"**

 **A gasp escaped the Doctor´s lips when Slipstream hit im hard across the face with his flat hand.**

„ **You have no idea how good that felt!", he hissed.**

„ **How do you know about his death anyway?", the Doctor asked, the print of Silpstram´s hand glowed red on his cheek, „The planet got destroyed."**

 **Slipstream pointed at the Doctor´s left arm and then went to pull up sleeve above his elbow to reveil a patch. Now that he saw it, the Doctor could also feel the the itching that is caused by stinging a needle through someone´s skin.**

„ **Introduced my drug into you. Funny how talkative people get, when they´ve taken it. And they can´t even remember the proceidure.", Slipstream smiled down on him, obviously enjoying the Doctor´s shocked face.**

 _ **What else have I told him?**_

„ **Well, I´d love to spent more time with you, but there´s work to do.", he straightened up and turned around to leave the room.**

 **Suddenly a thought hit the Doctor.**

„ **What about my friends?", he said. „What have you done to them?!"**

„ **Oh, they´re most likely dead.", Slipstream smiled and with that he left the room.**


	23. Chapter 22 - What s next?

As soon as we entered the TARDIS (She still seemed to be weakened: the lights were dimmed and and she had shutted down the engines) I told Clara what had happened.

We both ignored Tom and George, who were running around open mouthed and with pure excitement on their faces. Clara told me that the TARDIS had appeared at Coal Hill and the sound of the Cloister Bell had made Clara leave her teacher's office and have a look for her. As soon as she had entered the ship she took off and had brought her here. Then she had turned off everything but a few lights. 

„What do we do now?", I asked. „We got no idea where they've taken him."

Clara sighed.

„I don't know yet, but I'm sure we'll figure something out! But we still have another problem.", she added.

„The TARDIS", I stated, „We can't hide her if she's like this."

Clara nodded.

„We need the Doctor's skills to get her working again.."

„But, we also can't just leave her here right in the middle of the street.", I insisted.

Clara thought for a moment. "Well, we can't stay here.", George stated, looking through the front door. „If we don'tleave they'll come through the doors pretty soon and then straight to us in here."

Clara, Tom and I joined him by the door and he was right. The creatures were already pushing at the back door of the main building. If they got out they'd run straight into the time machine and cut off our only way out. We needed a plan, fast!

„Hang on!", Clara said „I think I saw a generator in the garage!" She rushed of.

„What? ?!", Tom followed her straight behind.

„Will this work?", George asked. „Because if it ain't we gotta get out of here very fast."

„I don't know if it's this kind of power she needs, but it's worth a try.", I said.

„ _She_?"

„Long story"

„Your Doctor really ain't normal.", he just snorred. 

A few minutes later Clara and Tom had returned with the generator. After some pacing around and trying this and that we had finally managed to connect the generator to the TARDIS controls.

Immediatley the lights went brighter and a flickering picture of the Doctor appeared.

„TARDIS voice interface.", the flickering Doctor said.

„Uhm..",Clara said. „How are you?"

„Engines damaged, power limited.", the hologram replied. „The Doctor is in danger."

„We know.", I said. „Is there enough power to get to him?"

„The Doctor can't be localized, engines damaged, power limited."

I looked at Clara.

„Uhm, is there enough power so you can at least hide yourself?"

„No."

„Is there enough power for the invisible chameleon?"

„Yes.", the hologram stated.

„Then use it!", Clara ordered. „We're going to find the Doctor."

The hologram and the lights flickered very fast now and we realized that she already had started the chameleon programm.

„Okay, keep yourself safe.", Clara whispered to her and gave us a sign tofollow her out.

„Where's the ship gone?!", Tom asked as he turned around and the TARDIS seemed to be gone.

„It's invisible.", I stated. „That's at least a bit of protection, since you can still feel her."

Tom reached out and his mouth dropped open as he felt the wood on his fingers, but couldn't see anything.

„Alright, we should leave.", George stated, as we heard a crack from behind us. The creatures had already broken one of the door's hinge hooks.

„Yeah, let's go.", we hurried as we left into the direction the van had drove off to.

„Are they like real zombies?", Clara asked as we hurried away.

„Not like.", I said, „They _are_ real zombies."

„So, there's a tiny bit of a reason to be terrified?"

„Oh,yes.", I asured her.

„And is that a gun?", she pointed at my belt.

„Yes, it is, but I haven't used it yet."

We walked the rest of our way (although none of us knew were this way was leading) in silence.

When the night came we reached some kind of military base. At first we thought we had run ourselves into the hands of the enemy, but then we realised, that there was no military around and that the base seemed to be abandoned.

„Okay, I say: Let's get in there, find us a safe place and then make a plan.", Tom said.

„Agreed.",I said and we made our way in through a hole in the fence.

Again we checked the environment for Infected, but we found nothing.

So, we made ourselves a small fire inside one of the buildings and Tom made us some ravioli on his camping cooker.

„Right,so we don't have any clues were they've taken him?", Clara asked while blowing air on her noodles to cool them down.

„No. Is the president's residence still the White House?", I asked.

„Yes.",Tom replied. „They propably brought him there.

„Or..."

„Or what?", George snapped at me.

„Patient zero was located at Rainbow City, wasn't she?"

Tom's face suddenly lit up.

„Yes! That's it! They took him to Rainbow City! The girl was located there, because they developped that virus there!"

„They didn't develop it.", I corrected. „The Doctor told us it was the comubes' virus."

„Then they propably experimented with it.", Tom added. „And then tested it on the girl."

„They killed her to get rid of witnesses. That's when they found out the virus only breaks through after one dies."

We stayed silent for a moment, as if to grieve the girl's death.

„How do we get there?", Clara asked.

Tom unfolded the map we had found.

„It will take us at least 40 hours of walking. Except the fact thatGeorge's tigh has been hurt, we'll never make it straight through, we'll need to take brakes. I think we'll need at least two days with rests."

Inodded.

„Unless we find a car."

„Yes,but it's very unlikely to find one that even has fuel left."

I nodded and got lost in my thoughts.

After we had eaten we got ready to get some sleep.

Clara and I were facing each other as we were lying in our sleeping bags.

„We'll find him." she assured me. „And then we'll kick their asses."

„I really hope so.", I said as she closed her eyes to get some sleep.


	24. Chapter 23 - Hurt

It was already getting dark when the door opened again. The Doctor's back hurt pretty much by now and he felt his muscles tense as he turned his head to face the "visitor".

The first two men who entered the room he did not know, the third one was Dr. Rhymes.

The Doctor started to get annoyed by his presence.

"You won't stop getting on my nerves, will you?", he said with a cold smile.

"Eventually not.", Dr, Rhymes said, while the other men unfastened the brakes of the Doctor's bed.

"Oh, looks we're going on a trip!", the Doctor said as they turned the bed around to wheel it out of the room.

"Yes, but you probably won't like it."

"I can hardly imagine that.", the Doctor growled.

He prepared himself for memorizing the way they were about to take. If he was to escape some time he had to remember which way led to which rooms. Unfortunately Rhymes seemed to be prepared for his skills and senses. They seemed to be prepared to reduce his chances of escaping to a minmum. The Doctor didn't't even know which city they were in, he didn't even know if they were still in in the US.

He tried to turn his head away when Rhymes approached with a piece of cloth in his hand before they left the room.

He took a sharp breath as one of the man clenched his fist into the Doctor's hair to keep his head still.

"It's only a weak sedative.", Rhymes said. "It will only last for a few minutes."

"N...", was al the Doctor could say before the cloth was pressed over his mouth and nose.

Immediately he stopped breathing. One of Rhyme's assistances noticed that.

"He stopped breathing."

"Yes, he's holding his breath.", Rhymes said, locking eyes with the Doctor. "Time Lords can hold their breath much longer than humans."

The man looked at him in amazement. Rhymes and the Doctor kept staring at each other.

"But, you know, he can't hold it forever. He's gotta start breathing again at some time." He pressed the cloth down harder which earned him a little groan from the Doctor.

In fact the Doctor already started to feel the need to breath in again. There was this tiny hope, that maybe, if it would take too long, Rhymes would give up the idea of sedating him. But he knew quite well, that this wasn't going to happen. Still, he didn't want to give them the satisfaction of giving in too easy.

For quite a while nothing happened, then the Doctor started to feel tears in his eyes, because of the effort it took to stop himself from breathing. He needed oxygen! Unfortunately he wouldn't get anything but the sedative. When he finally had to give in Rhymes gave him a satisfied grin.

"Take a deep breath, Doctor.", he mocked.

There was nothing he could have done. The Time Lord felt the drug enter his system and he felt his eyelids get heavy. He tried to fight the blackness, but he lost.

When he woke up he felt a needle pierce through his skin. He tried to move his arm away, but then he remembered that he was tied to a bed.

He gave a slight groan. Then he felt that someone was taking his pulse and the needle disappeared.

"Take the blood to the lab.", he heard Dr. Rhymes say.

The Doctor forced himself to open his eyes. The neon light hurt, so he turned his head to the left to find Dr. Rhy,es preparing some instruments.

Great.

"Ah, you're awake again, I told you it'd only last for a few minutes."

"What are you doing?", he asked Rhymes, his voice sounded weak and hoarse. He still felt so tired.

"Just a few tests."

"You were right: I don't like it!"

"And I haven't even started yet.", Rhymes giggled.

The Doctor sighed.

"You know, it would save you a lot of work and time if you'd just believe me! This will never work!"

"You really should keep your mouth shut, Doctor.", Rhymes said as he unbuttoned the Doctor's shirt.

"I won't, I'm telling you.."

"Shut up, or I'm going to gag you!", Rhymes snapped.

That worked. The Doctor decided that he wasn't't keen of having stuffed something into his mouth. So, he tried to swallow his anger and frustration and ignore the fear that slowly was growing inside of him.

If they wanted to make him use his regeneration energy to heal himself they had to keep him from putting himself into the healing coma, which propably meant drugs. Also, they would hurt him, hurt him really badly.

He tried not to think about it.

Dr. Rhymes pulled the Doctor 's shirt apart to fasten some patches with cables on his chest and his wrists.

"Don't worry, it's just for ECG"

"Yeah, I can see that.", the Doctor stated, which earned him a warning gaze from Rhymes. He sighed and just let it happen. Maybe if they'd get the feeling that he was a bit more cooperative, they would be more careless with preventing his escape.

Rhymes pressed a few buttons on the screen in front of him and the patches sucked themselves to the Doctor's skin.

He tried to relax and hoped that soon, they would leave him alone.

After a few minutes of recording the Doctor's pulse and heartbeat frequency Dr. Rhymes spoke to him again.

"Now I will have to record it while you're in different states of pain."

Oh, great!

The Doctor could feel his heartbeats fasten. He really wished to be somewhere else.


	25. Chapter 24 - Lucky

I had stopped running. My breath was ragged and irregularly. Clara pressed her hands against her sides and gasped for air. We looked around, but we couldn't see anything, only the trees of the forest and the rays of sunlight breaking through.

„I think we got rid of them.", she said.

„Where are Tom and George?", I asked.

We had been walking for four hours already as we entered the forest. Then they came. At least twenty of the creatures had surrounded us and Tom and George fought them with their knives and axes as we had to save our bullets for the guns. They gave Clara and me the chance to get away and run deeper into the forest where we were able to leave the hunters behind.

But now we didn't know where we were and where Tom and George had gone.

„Well, I hope they're still alive.", I whispered.

„Don't be so pesimistic.", Clara said, „They're fighters they'll be fine! Let's concentrate on getting out of here and finding them."

I nodded and we started walking without even knowing which direction was the right one.

All I could think of was finding them quickly, so we could continue our journey to find the Doctor and save him from whatever Rhymes and Naven were up to.

We couldn't even shout for Tom and George as the noise would lead the infected straight towards us.

„He'll be fine.", Clara suddenly stated.

„Sorry?"

„You're face. You look concerned. I am too, but the Doctor will be fine, he'll find a way."

I simply nodded to that and kept walking.

 _God knows what he's going through right now._

We kept searching another fourty minutes until we finally found Tom and George. A trace of dead Infected had lead us to them.

„Oh, thank God.", Clara said with relief as we found them.

George looked incredibly pale and Tom was supporting him by putting one of George's armes around his shoulders.

„What happened?", I asked concerned.

„Nothing bad.", George gasped.

„The fighting was simply too much for his injured leg."

„I'm sorry, we should have stayed.", I said, putting George's other arm around my shoulders to help him walk.

„Don't be, we had to protect you, I promised him."

„Thanks."

„Now we have to get out of this forest.", Tom continued, „It's not save here."

He handed Clara the map and she started guiding us out of the forest.

Because of George's injury we were extremly slow and now and then we heard clicking and rustling noises around us. I was sure there were still some of the creatures around us.

Still, we made it out of the woods without being attacked a second time and enterd a small grassland which was seperating the forest from the highway.

„Good.", Tom said as we entered the street. „Now we have a better sight of things that come near us."

„And something's coming near us.", I said pointing a finger on a red pick-up that was driving towards us.

„It's a car.", Clara said, grinning. "A car that can drive! Do you think they will give us a lift?"

„I don't think so.", George said weakly while Tom was grabbing his gun.

„Unlock the safety of your revolver.", he instructed me, keeping his gaze focused on the car thar slowly approached us.

I did as I was told.

„What's wrong?", Clara asked.

„We are facing an apocalypse, never trust anyone.", George answered, steadying only on his own legs again. He put his arms away from our shoulders and placed one hand on his belt where his gun was holstered.

„Those people could be dangerous", Tom added.

Clara and I exchanged nervous looks and I gave her a sign to stand closer to me, since she had no weapon.

„Take this.", Tom told her and handed her his second gun, a small revolver like mine.

„Be ready.", George said as the car came to a halt about twenty metres away from us. The door opened and a guy almost fell out of the car, getting to his feed again very quickly and sprinted towards us.

He had dark, long hair and a beard. He almost looked like some kind ofJesus Christ.

I clenched the gun at my belt, ready to pull it out.

„Help me!", he gasped while running towards us. „My girlfriend, she'spregnant, but she got bitten! Please!", he fell to his knees infront of us and I could see the tears in eyes. I felt sorry for him.

„Please, help us!"

„Okay, calm down!", Tom said and helped him up to his feet.

„We'll have a look, but you go first and we get near that car slowly, have you got that?!"

The guy nodded.

„Yes, thank you!"

Than he ran back to the car and we followed him in a rather calm pace.

„If his girlfriend got bitten she'll only change after she died.", I stated.

„It's propably a trap.", George said. „They'll try to rob us, then kill us."

„What?! Then why are we follwing him?", I shrieked.

„Because we need that car."

„Oh, yeah. Right."

As we came next to the car Tom said: „Well, let's have a look at your girlfriend."

I0 twas like he had used a keyword. Suddenly three men jumped from the load floor of the pick-up, pointing they're guns at us.

„I'd really like to get rid of that gun pointing thing!", I stated, while pointing my gun. Tom, George and Clara did the same. Four against four, everyone was pointing a gun at his opponent.

„Uuh, you were prepared.", the Jesus said. „You're still gonna die and we will have your food and water!"

His finger moved, but before he even pulled the trigger a sholt fell and he gave us a look of utter surprise before he dropped to the ground with a hole in his forehead. I screamed and ducked away instinctively. Another shot fell as one of Jesus mates fired, but he didn't hit anyone.

George fired two quick shots and killed two more. The last one got killed by Tom, who fired his shotgun.

I couldn't look at it and had turned my face away. Only when the last echo of the shot fell silent we moved again.

„Okay, you two get into the car.", Tom said and started to search through the clothes and bags of the dead men.

Clara and I obeyed and I climbed to the backseat of the car, carefully trying not to look at the corpses.

None of us said a word I felt numb and I couldn't really think clear.

After a while Tom and George entered the car as well and after a few moves of Toms skillful hands the motor sprang to life and we drove off into the sunset.


	26. Chapter 25 - Doctors

The Doctor gasped as Rhymes undid the restrains and helped him to stand. He was shaking, his body covered in sweat and his face covered in tears and blood because he had bitten his lips.

"You will need a shower", Rhymes said as he supported him and lead him to a wheel chair in the corner.

"Take your hands off me!", the Doctor hissed more in a whisper than a shout and pushed Rhymes aside.

"Well, well, calm down, dear.", Rhymes mocked and gave his two assistans a sign to follow him.

One of them took the wheelchair, but before he could do anything the Doctor stood up.

"I can walk myself, thanks!"

With that said he felt his legs give in and Dr. Rhymes caught him and stopped him from hitting the floor face first.

"You better behave and listen to us, Doctor. Or should I sedate you again? I would have to wash you.", he added with a grin.

Once again the Doctor fought the urge to just spit at him and let it happen without further complaining.

He had markings on his chest were the electrodes of the ECG had been fastened and also markings in wrists and ankles where he had been restrained.

His body felt like it was going to explode. His head ached more than a bit and his muscles

didn't stop tensing and spasming every few seconds.

„ _NowI will have to record it while you are in different states of pain."_

And that was what Rhymes had done. He had attached some kind of machine to the Doctor's chest. It was able to create pain without causing an injury. But the body still reacted, sending out stress hormones and activating the pain receptors. It wasn't fun, really not. Rhymes increased the intensity of the felt pain every five minutes until the TimeLord's body started flinching and shaking, because of the pain. He tensed his muscels and they spasmed and there was nothing he could do about it. He reared up in his restrains to get away from the pain, but there was no use to it.

Rhymes and his assistants were watching him, taking notes and still, increasing the strength.

Until he couldn't hold back anymore, a scream escaped his mouth and he felt tears welling up his eyes, he didn't even notice he had bitten his lips and was now bleeding.

"Okay.", Dr. Rhymes said. "That's enough for today."

The Doctor led out a long shuddering breath when Rhymes finally turned off the machine.

"You're released for today.", Rhymes told the Doctor with a smile.

He didn't even think of thanking him for that.

So, now they were heading down the corridor and entered a room with lots of showers in it. A common shower area.

"We get you cleaned up and then we'll take you back to your room.", Rhymes told the Doctor and waved his two assitants to wait outside.

"And get him some fresh clothes and a towel."

Although it was a common shower, each shower was a single cabin with a curtain, so noone could see in, which the Doctor was very glad for.

"Two opportunities: You'll shower yourself or I'll tie you to that chair and do it, okay?", Rhymes said, handing him a piece of soap.

"Yes, I got it.", the Doctor hissed. It took him some effort to get out of the chair and enter one of the cabines, his legs still were spasming and it was hard for him to stand.

"If you need help, just ask for it.", Rhymes mocked.

"Not in this life!"

Rhymes giggled at that and leaned against the wall.

"You know, I am really impressed by you. Most humans would have collapsed in this state of pain."

He was so proud of his job, working for the president, having to experiment on a Time Lord. The Doctor was his prize, he would be Rhymes payment if everything worked well.

"I'm not human.", the Doctor simply said while trying to find the right temperature for the water.

"Yes.", Rhymes laughed. "That's what makes you so interesting."

The Doctor only gave him a growl at this and started soaping his hair and body.

"I'm looking foward to the next phase of tests.", Rhymes continued.

"Well, I'm sorry if I can't share that joy.", the Doctor stated.

"I'm afraid you will hate it.", Rhymes giggled.

For a while none of them said something, one of the assistants entered the room again to hand Rhymes clothes and a towel, then he left again.

The Doctor put the curtain aside, but only far enough to grab the towel and clothes.

"How many?", he suddenly asked, while rubbing his hair dry.

"Sorry?", Rhymes didn't seem to understand.

"How many other people have you put through this until the technology really worked? How many have you killed by developing this machine? How many men, how many women, how many children?"

The Doctor sounded so bitter. For the first time Rhymes felt a shiver running down his spine. This man was the oncoming storm, the man who had erased himself from history, because people were trying to kill him, because they had been afraid of him!

"Lots, I think.", he answered, trying to sound as cold as possible.

The Doctor stepped out of the shower, hair still wet and wearing the clothes they had borught him. A jogger and a grey jumper.

"How many?", he asked now, more aggressively.

"I..I don't know."

"How many have you killed to develop that torturing machine, how many have you killed to construct something to use on me, to experiment on me?! How many have you killed JUST TO CAUSE ME PAIN?!", the last bit of this question came out as a shout so angry, that Rhymes took a step back as the Doctor approached him with hurt and anger crossing his face.

"How many have you killed to create these creatures?", he asked now in a calm voice.

Which was even more terrifying for Rhymes.

He was glad when his assistants entered with the oh, so familiar piece of clothing.

"Oh, no you don't!", the Doctor tried to get away only to run into the arms of Rhymes who had reacted quickly and held him in place while his assistant came closer.

"I'm sorry, dear.", he said. "But I can't let you see the rest of this building."

This time it was quicker. The Doctor didn't have enough strength left to fight the sedative as long as last time. It took only seconds until everything went black again.


	27. Chapter 26 - Leon

The car was the best thing that could have happened to us. It took us until 5 miles before the border of the enclosed area of Rainbow city, then the motor stopped.

"We're out of gasoline.", Tom said. "We'll have to walk the rest."

"Well, at least it's not far right now.", Clara said and jumped out of the car.

"As much as I've heard the sewer's systems here aren't guarded, so it should it be easy to enter the city through it.", George said.

"How do you know?", I asked, getting out of the car.

"I met someone from here once. He fled from the military and I helped him."

"Yeah, and then you robbed him.", Tom added.

"I needed the food for my wife and child!"

"Let's not discuss that now.", Clara interrupted their fight. "We need to find a way in."

"Well, that's quite easy, find us a gully hole!", Geroge barked and tromped away.

"He's so lovely.", Clara hissed and started to search.

It took us a bit of walking until we found something. George had found an entrance to the sewer system.

"Ready to get dirty?", he asked while removing the cover from the gully.

I realized that I was only wearing my dress ad converse.

"Yeah, great.", I sighed.

I frowned when we entered the stinking tunnel and wated the dirty water. I tried not to think about what was touching my legs and soacking through my shoes. Clara didn't ook very happy either.

"I'm going to get rid of these clothes as soon as we get home.", she said.

Tom and George went on and we followed, the only light we had was the light from the torches.

"This is seriously the most discusting thing I've ever done.", Clara stated.

"Yeah, I agree", I said.

"Stop complaining and keep your ears open.", Tom advised us. "We can't see very far it's important to listen now."

I nodded athough he couldn't see me, because I was walking behind him.

For a few minutes we just kept in walking. I was really nervous, I wanted to find the Doctor as soon as possible, we needed to get him out of there! There were hundreds of possible scenarios in my head and all were pretty bad. What if they were hurting him, what if they were torturung him?

"Stop.", Tom suddenly said and held up his hand to intensify this order.

At first all we heard was the splashing of the water, but then we heard someting else. A scream. And not any scream. This was the scream of a child in fear.

"Come on!", Tom said and hurried forward, we followed close behind. I took the gun from my belt and pulled off the safety lock. Clara beside me was doing the same, then the path suddenly parted.

"I can't really hear which direction it's coming from.", Tom stated.

Neither couldn't we. Which meant we had to part.

"Ena, with me. George you go with Clara!"

We hurried deeper and soon the noise got louder, then we also heard the growling of a creature. Tom started runnung and I followed him.

"There!"

It was a boy, he was fightiing with an Infected. The creature had pressed him agains a wall and tried t bite him, but the boy was keeping her away with an iron rod.

Tom didn't hesitate and shot the infected woman. I ran to the boy who was breathing heavily.

"Thank you.", he gasped.

"It's okay.", I told him. "You're safe now."

He noded and tried to catch his breath. He was around 10 years and had light brown skin, his hair was messy and curled and he looked at me with huge brown eyes.

"I'm Leon.", he said.

"My name is Verena, but people call me Ena.", I smiled and he returned it.

"And this is Tom.", I introduced my companion.

"Hi, Leon.", he smiled. "Are you alone 'round here?"

The little one nodded and then gasped. I turned around. A creature had jumped out of a hole above our heads and had thrown itself directy onto Tom who was now lying on the floor, trying to escape. Before I knew what I was doing I heard the shot. Blood splashed onto Toms face and the creature sank down onto him.

I was shaking like crazy when Tom got in his feed again. I still remained still like a statue when he was on his feed again. Arms outstratched, aiming the gun.

"Hey.", Tom said in a soft voice, removing the revolver from my shaking hands. I couldn't stop looking at the creature.

"It's okay.", Tom said. "She was already dead. You saved her. Now she can rest in peace."

"In a sewer?!", I almost screamed. My thoughts weren't clear anymore. I had just someone! There she was, blood everywhere and a hole in her head! Lying in dirty water and excreta!

"Calm down, it's fine!.", Tom tried to bring my focus back. "She was dead already before!"

"I know.", I said in a whisper. "I know."

Still I couldn't stop shaking.

We heard footsteps comin closer and then Clara and George appeared, running towards us.

"What happened? We heard two shots", George asked as he was closer.

Clara looked at the boy, then at the first creature then at me and then at the creature I had just shot.

She didn't say anything she just hugged me. "It's okay.", she said reassuringly and I nodded.

"Let's move on, we need to get out of here. It's obviously not safe down here."

We introduced Leon to the others and decided to take him with us.

"There must be a group you belong to.", Clara asked while we moved further into the sewer systems.

"Yes. We have out place right at the waterworks. It's really easy to get there from here.", he explained.

"What were you doing in the sewers?", George asked. "That's not a place for a child."

"I sometimes come down here to play.", he said. "This time I got lost and couldn't find back."

"Okay, we just keep on moving, okay? I primise you we'll find your home.", Tom assured him.

It took less then five minutes for Leon to find a spot which he recognized

"I know the way from here!", he said and ran forward to guide us.

"Do you think these people will help us?", I asked Tom.

"Oh, we're not going with him.", Tom answered, "we'll just drop him off and then we disappear as fast as we can. Most of the groups your not in are extremly mistrusting. They won't like us."

"But they don't even know us!", Clara stated.

"That's the point."

I nodded.

Leon led us all the way until we came to another ladder that led upwards.

"We need to get up.", he said.

"Okay, listen, you're safe now.", Tom said, "and we really are in a hurry, so, we're not coming with you."

Leon frowned.

"Alright. What a bummer, I really wanted the others to get to know you."

"Yes.", a voice behind us said. We turned around to find around ten men standing behind us, aimiing their weapons at us.

"We'd really like to get to know you!"


	28. Chapter 27 - Rebels

The old waterwork was huge. Which made the small group of people in there appear even smaller. There were about 30 people in there, working on different things. Some of them were washing clothes in metal tubs, others where cooking something on a small campfire.

All of them were looking up as we entered the big main hall. Curiosity was written over their faces.

We were guided by the group who had found us. They had taken our backpacks and weapons from us and led us through the hall and then upstairs. I felt a bit like back in Esperanza where Pete, Duncan and Neil had caught me and the Doctor in the tunnel.

"Are we going to see your leader?", Tom asked.

One of the women (I heard the others call her Jessy) in the group answered him.

"Yes. You will tell us what you were doing in our teritory."

"Well, we...", Clara began, but Jessy gave her a sign to shut up and my friend decided it was best for all of us to follow that order.

We stopped in front of a huge metal door, which was propably leading to the offices. The door got opened almost immediately and we were greeted by a huge dark skinned man with long black hair.

"Hello!", he said in a happy tone. "Who are our friends here?"

"We found them in the sewer systems. Together with Leon.", Jessy told him.

The man looked down at the little huy, who had put on a puppy face-

"How many times have I told you not to run around in the sewers?", the man asked in a serious voice.

"Sorry, dad.", Leon mumbled and looked down to his feed.

"We'll talk later about that.", the man said and went back to talk to Jessy.

"We think they wanted to steal our provisions.", Jessy said.

"What? no!", Tom protested, but one of the men gave him a slap on the back with a thick wooden stick. "Do not talk without permission!"  
Tom groaned and pulled a face, trying to hide his pain. I glared at the man and wished looks could hurt as well.

"Maybe they wanted to use Leon to apply pressure on us!", Jessy continued.

"No!.", Leon interfered and ran to his father. "They saved me from one of the monsters!"

The man looked to us.

"You saved my son?"

"Propably only to make us give them our food!", Jessy yelled.

"You're even worse than George when it comes to spoiling for a fight!", Tom glared at her. "We only wanted to bring him back home! We didn't even want to come here."

"Please, we are on the way to save a friend of ours!", I told the man.

The man looked at us for a whike before he spoke again, he turned to Leon.

"Is that true?", he asked the little one.

"Yes, dad. They saved me from the monster and I wanted to bring them to you, so you will get to know who has brought me home and you could thank them. But they dind't want to come with me. And then Jessy and the others came and forbid them to talk!"

The man looked back at Jessy.

"I think you should stop being so mistrusting against everything and everyone. Let's go inside and talk.", heopened the door for us and we, Jessy and four of her men entered the office of the waterwork.

"I am Jeremiah.", the man said, giving each of us a handshake while we told him our names.

"You saved my son, thank you for that. You said you were looking for a friend of yours?"

"He got kidnapped by the military.", I said. "We think they took him to Rainbow City. Please, it's important we find him soon."

Tom nodded.

"He's propably not having such a good time there.", he added.

Jeremiah nodded.

"We have problems with the military every few weeks. Lots of them got killed by our warriors.", he nodded to Jessy and the rest of the group. "They have taken a lot of our friends too. They came back as monsters."

Tom nodded.

"It's the president.", he said, "He's behind this. He has started this virus, using this little girl as a test subject to see if it works. We want to stop him. Our friend could help us making a antidote. It would stop the dead from turning."

"We want to put an end to this.", George added.

"You seem to know a lot more than we do.", Jeremiah said. "How did you find out all this stuff? Why should we believe you?"

"I can't give you a reason to prove you that you can believe us, but we had a.. let's call it conversation with the president.", I answered. "He was after our friend. Propably for more experiments.."

"..or his great knowledge.", Clara continued.

"Look, the point is, the longer we will stay here, the higher the chance that we'll be finding him dead, or worse..", I couldn't bring that thought to an end. "Please let us go, so we can save him and put an end to this virus!"

"You really think you can do this? Or that he could stop that virus?" Jeremiah aksed. "I mean, I don't know you, not to mention your friend, and lots of what you just said doesn't seem to make any sense, but you don't look to me like you could beat an army of military soldiers."

"I will go with you.", Jessy suddenly said. Her face had turned even harder than when she had found us in the sewer. I could see the bitterness on her face.

"Jessy, we have discussed this, we can beat the few soldiers that are coming here to kidnap our people, but we can't beat the whole of them at the base in Rainbow City! Also, wasn't it you who mistrusted them right from he second you saw them."

"With the right strategy we could!", Jessy insisted. " And I moght be wrong in mistrustung them, or I might be right, but I don't care. These people are going to beat the shit out of the man who has caused this?! Then, hell I am with them!"

Jeremiah looked at her for a while. None of us was saying a word, the tension was too big. It was best to saty silent now.

"Alright.", Jeremiah said. "Alright. I will give you all of my warriors and I will go with you too. But I'm only doing this because they saved my son, not out of charity! And if we find out that the situation is getting out of control we will back down! Is that clear?"

Jessy nodded, a satisfied look on her face.

"And you.", he pointed at us. "If I find out that you're story isn't true and you lied to us, I will decapitate everyone of you personally, have you got that?"

"Yes, sure.", Tom said, relief in his voice.

"Well, then. Get ready.", he told Jessy and turned to us. "We will get our weapons ready and help you. Take some rest and wait in the main hall for us, Wel'll be leavng by sunset."


	29. Chapter 28 - Hope

**Again the Doctor woke up with an incredible headache. He felt his body struggle with the remains of the sedative Rhymes had given him.**

 **He felt weak and had an stomach ache.**

 **After a while he felt good enough to sit up. To his suprise he wasn't restrained this time. He took the glass of water which was standing on the bedside table and sniffed it. He couldn't smell anything so the water seemed to be okay. He drank it down in one move, he had been sothirsty!**

 **He was back in his hospital room, the same room he had woken up to after they had kidnapped him.**

 **Carefully, he stood up to look around. His clothes were still on the chair in the corner, but somebody had washed them and folded them together. His bowtie lay ontop of them. He tried to open the door and window,but of course, they were locked. He even tried to bring the door downby force, which only caused him a hurting shoulder and a shout from the guards outside to „fucking stop making so much noise."**

„ **Damn it!", he swore. „I need to think of a different way."**

 **He gave up his plan to escape through the door and instead decided to put his normal clothes and shoes on. He would have to wait until someone opened that door. Even if he could crack the window open he couldn't get outside. They must've been on the 7th floor, he guessed. Even a Time Lord wouldn't survive a fall from this height.**

 **As soon as he had fastened his bowtie around his neck he felt a bit better.**

„ **Welcome back, Doctor.", he said to himself.**

 **Just a second later he could hear someone placing keys into the keyhole and he hurried to sit on the bed and look as weak as they had left him here. He hoped that they wouldn't mind to tie him down again and maybe, he could escape while the door wasn't locked. Which meant he had to try and overpower whoever was coming now, which wasn't actually his style, but he seemed to have no other choice.**

 **He rolled his eyes when Rhymes entered with a dinner tray.**

„ **I saw that.", Rhymes commented and placed the tray on the bedside table.**

 **The Doctor could see some kind of stew on the plate.**

„ **I'm not hungry, thanks.", he said with a cold smile. He tried to add as much resentment as possible into the gaze he gave Rhymes.**

„ **Well, you slept for almost 24 hours and at least you seem to be fit enough to get up. I see you went back to the roots.", he pointed at the „Prisoners clothes" as the Doctor had named them.**

„ **I like my own clothes better, thank you."., he replied.**

 **Rhymes sat down own the chair next to the bed.**

„ **Oh, you won't leave until I have eaten, am I right?", the Doctor said, again rolling is eyes.**

„ **Your guess is correct.", Rhymes smiled. „We want you to stay strong enough for the next round of experiments."**

 **The Doctor leaned closer to him, locking eyes with the human doctor.**

„ **I won't eat anything you offer me.", he hissed.**

„ **Well, like with everything else you can make a choice. You can have it the hard way or the easy way. I could always call the guards and get you tied back to that bed. It's not very complicated to give you an infusion instead of real food.", Rhymes gave him an amused smileas he watched the Doctor's face fall and the Time Lords anger coming back.**

 **But this time, the Doctor decided to go on with it.**

„ **Alright, give me that plate."  
A victorious grin on his face, Rhymes leaned over and handed the Doctor a spoon and the plate with the stew on it. **

„ **It's still hot.", Rhymes said with a smile.**

„ **Good.", the Doctor said, before throwing the plate and its contents right into Rhymes'face.**

„ **Sorry!", he said while jumping off the bed. „No, I'll take that back! Actually not sorry!"**

 **He heard Rhymes'angry growl as he sprinted towards the door.**

„ **Stop him!", Rhymes shouted from behind him as the Doctor pulled the door open and faced one of the guards.**

„ **Sorry!", with one quick move he rammed his knee up into the groin of his counterpart. As the man groaned and went down on his knees the Doctor pulled a face, as if he could feel thepain too and climbed over the body of the man who was now writhing on the floor. A quick look behind told him that Rhymes had got rid of the food in his face and was now pursuing him.**

„ **Oh,dear.", he said and sprinted down the corridor. He had no idea where to go!**

 **He could hear Rhymes shouting orders into his walkie-talkie.**

„ **Close all the exits! He's now heading for the X-Ray department!"**

 **The Doctor could hear his own gasping breath in his ears, the faster he ran. He didn't know where to go, nor how to get away from here when he would actually made it outside the building.**

 **He almost tripped over his own feed when the big glass doors to his leftflew open and a group of soldiers stormed in.**

 **He made a sprint into the corridor on his right. Behind him he heard the shouts of the soldiers.**

„ **Stop! Stay right where you are!"**

„ **Yeah, you wish I did!", he murmured to himself while heading to the left. Right before him he could see more soldiers, this time they were closing the doors right in front of him, so he couldn't get through.**

 **But this didn't stop him from running, instead of going straight onwards he went right and took a fire extinguisher from the wall before entering one of the lifts to his left.**

 **Just as he saw Rhymes and the soldiers sprinting around the corner he the doors closed.  
„No!", he heard Rhymes scream. To everyone! He's inthe lift!"**

 **The voice got quieter as the lift took his way down. If he only could make onto the 3rd or 2nd floor he could leave through the window and get into one of trees infront of them.**

 **His hearts were racing like crazy as the lift suddenly stopped on the 4th floor and the doors opened. He was facing three soldiers now.**

„ **There you are!", one of them said, pointing his gun at the Time Lord.**

 **But the Doctor didn't hesitate. He aimed the fire extinguisher and pulled the lever.**

„ **Aaarrgh!", the soldiers said in union as the Doctor coated them with the white foam. „I can't see!"**

„ **Good for me!", the Doctor said, continuing his run for an exit. He could hear more footsteps coming from the right and left, so he decided toturn around and run back, into a corridor that seemed to be abandoned and not in use anymore. The thought of getting in there didn't cause him too much pleasure, but he would have one advantage in there: It was dark outside and is seemed like there were no working lights in that area. It would be easier to hide.**

 **He could hear the doors crack open behind him and quickly, he ran into one of the rooms and hid behind one of the shelves. This seemed to have been a stocking room, where the medicine had been kept. He tried to cam down his breath, he breathing sharp and almost gasping, it was way too loud. Outside, he could hear people talking.**

„ **Are you sure he went this way?!", he heard a harsh voice. It was Slipstream's voice.**

„ **Yes, I saw him!", another voice replied.**

„ **I want you to find him! Look everywhere!", Slipstream groaled.**

„ **Yes,Sir."**

 **The Doctor looked around, there was another door in this room, carefully and slowy he made his way for that door. As he opened it, the other door behind him got kicked open by one of the soldiers and the light of a torch filled the small room. Quickly, the Doctor rushed through the door beside him and into the next room. It seemed to be one of the nurse's station. His hearts made a little jump when he saw, that the room had a balcony.**

„ **I think I heard something!", the soldier in the other room yelled to his comrades.**

„ **Oh,no.", the Doctor gave up on his cover and made his way for the balcony door. Just as he had rushed outside the soldiers entered the room.**

„ **He's here!"**

 **Slipstream and the soldiers stormed in and looked at the Doctor with wide eyes.**

„ **Get back here!"**

„ **Hasta la vista!", the Doctor grinned and waved to them before jumping over the railing and off the balcony.**


	30. Chapter 29 - Hide & Seek

**The Doctor clenched his arms and legs around the tree trunk.**

„ **This is never going to work!", he said to himself.**

 **He saw the soldiers and Slipstream on the balcony, looking down.**

 **They seemed to wonder where he had gone.**

„ **Search the ground!", he heard Slipstream shout before the man ran back into the building. The Doctor had two oppornities. He could climb down, but then he would be greetd by the soldiers, looking for him. Or he could climb and then jump onto the next balcony and get back into the building and start the whole hide and seek game again. To him the second choice seemed to be the best, he had seen that the door on the balcony beneath him wasn't locked. Well, it** _ **was**_ **locked, but the windows were broken so it would be easy to climb through. And since nobody seemed to even think about the possibilty of him hiding in the trees he assumed that all of the soldiers would be outside or on the ground floor.**

„ **Alright, then. Let's try this."**

 **Carefully he let go of the trunk and made is way on a big limb towards the balcony on the second floor.**

„ **Ha!"**

 **He clapped his hand over his own mouth as a shout of triumph escaped his lips. He had made it onto the balcony without causing further noise and was now entering the building again.**

 **He crouched down behind an old sofa which was standing in the nurses'station and made shure that noone was around. As everything seemed to be clear he carefully made his way out of the room and into the corridor. He could hear voices coming from the floor below. He thought about how to get down on the ground floor. He was shure that they had turned off the lifts and placed guards on every stair. But he still had to try. Climbing through a window again wasn't an option. He decided to go for the stairs and sneeked his way to the stairways. On the way he met one single soldier who was patroling in the corridor, but he managed to sneek around him without being noticed.**

 **Before he went through the door he found two old bottles on the ground and picked them up. He usually was strictly against violence, but the sheer amount of soldiers and their willingness to use violence didn't seem to give im another choice. The door squeezed when he opened it and he almost prayed that nobody had heard it. Still sneeking he went down the first steps until he could see around and have a look at the door that lead to the first floor. In fact, there was a soldier guarding the door.**

„ **Damn it!", he swore silently to himself.**

 **He needed to pass him! He took one of the bottles and reached over therailing. He heard the glass smash on the cellar floor and the soldier seemed to be alarmed.**

„ **I heard something in the stairway! Down in the cellar!", he spoke into his walkie-talkie.**

„ **Okay, check it!", came the quick answer. The man ran down the stairs which gave the Doctor the opportunity to follow him with silent steps.**

„ **I heard it too!", came a voice from the floor below.**

„ **Possibly another guard at the door.** _ **",**_ **the Doctor thought.**

 **He looked around and saw to his relief, that they both went down to check what happened down there.**

„ **Idiots.", the Doctor murmured to himself and opened the door to the groundfloor.**

 **In fact there were soldiers everywhere. At least, at the exit.**

„ **Great.", the Doctor thought. „Well, then let's try the back."**

 **Rellay careafully and really slowly he made his way through the corridor. Crouching behind hospital beds or hiding inside bathrooms he somehow managed to reach the entrance for the staff.**

 **He decided that it was too risky to use it. There were two guards at the entrance and from his hiding place he could see that even more soldiers were outside.**

 **He decided to go back and climb through the window of one of the bathrooms.**

 **He opened the door again and sneeked back into the room he just came from. It was the restroom for women. He opened one of the cabins and opened one of the small windows above the toilet.**

„ **Let's see of my diet was of any use."**

 **He pushed himself up und wriggled through the narrow window.**

 **Outside, he heard the soldiers around the corner yelling orders at each other.**

 **He got up and cleaned his clothes from the grass as he suddenly stopped in his moves.**

 _ **Click.**_

 **He felt cold metal on the skin of his neck.**

„ **Where do you think you are going, dear?"**


	31. Chapter 30 - Rainbow City

As it turned out, Jessy was actually very nice. As furious as she was with us in the beginning, as kind and talkative she was now. We had already made three quarters of our way and it would only be a few miles until we'd reach Rainbow City. She, Clara and me were walking behind the group of men before us, including George, Tom, Jeremiah and the other "Warriors" he had chosen to come with us. As Jessy was the only female warrior that had joined us she seemed to be happy to be able to talk to us girls.

We found out that she and Jeremiah were cousins and that they had founded the community out of survivors of the little village they had been living in. But even more interesting was finding out why she tried to persuade Jeremiah to go with us in such an agressive way.

Her last name was Turner.

It was her daughter that had been kidnapped and experimented on when all this had started. She was the mother of the poor girl that became patient zero. Of course she wanted revenge.

She told us about several times she had tried to form a group of people to help her fighting, but they always had to back away as the military had so much more men and women. We told her and the rest of the group all about what happened to us and how important it was to get the Doctor out before they found out how to "improve" their zombies.

"That sounds quite unbelieveable.", Jeremiah said. "Time travel? Are you sure?"

"We saw his time machine.", George assured him. "Even I had to confess to myself that what I saw was real. I never believed in aliens before."

"And he's really that intelligent?"

"He's got 27 brains.", Clara said and I laughed, "Or at least he got several more than a human."

Jeremiah and Jessy stared at her for a moment, then someone from the first row shouted something.

"I think we're here.", Jessy said. It was almost a whisper.

The City looked pretty much the same as Atlanta did from the outside. A huge fence with lots of look-outs at the top. And lots and lots of flood lights. We hid behind the few trees that marked the border to the street we were heading to.

"So, how do we get in?"

"Oh, that's quite easy.", Jessy said. "Like you came to us."  
"Oh, please don't tell me we are going to use the sewer again?", I moaned.

"Exactly!", Jessy gave me a smile and a wink and led the way.


	32. Chapter 31 - Back to hell

**The Doctor helplessly struggled against the soldier's grips. They were taking him back into the building and to the lift.**

„ **There's no use in fighting, Doctor, you can't escape anymore now .",Slipstream said as the Doctor tried to avoid being dragged into the lift.**

 **Rhymes and Slipstream followed the two soldiers and the Time Lord into the lift.**

„ **You will regret this.", the Doctor spat, his breath was ragged and he was exhausted from the fighting, but he didn't even think about giving up. He kept fighting the soldiers grip all the way. They had quite a fight dragging him out of the lift and through the corridor of the cellar.**

 **Until Slipstream had enough. He called Rhyme's assistants, who had been waiting in the corridor, to help.**

„ **Get his legs.", he ordered.**

„ **No!"**

 **It took quite an effort for them to get a grip on the Doctor's legs and lift him completely up, so he didn't touch the floor anymore.**

„ **Jesus Christ!", Slipstream swore as one of the assistants got kicked in the stomach. Furious as he was he grabbed the Doctor's leg himself and they were able to carry him into the room he was in when Rhymes had put the machine on him. Still, the Doctor caused them lots of trouble to hold him tight as he fought them tooth and nail.**

 **Rhymes then brought the stretcher in.**

„ **Get him on that!", Slipstream ordered and the Doctor growled in his effort to break free. He didn't want to be strapped down and he certainly didn 't want to be tortured by that machine!**

„ **Stop it!", he gasped desperaty as they pressed him down onto the stretcher.**

 **Two of the soldiers pressed down his upper body while Sliptsream, one of the assistants and Rhymes fastened the restrains around his left ankle, then the right one.**

„ **Please!"**

 **He didn't stand a change against four hands on each arm and Rhymes who fastened the restrains so tight he soon couldn't feel his fingers anymore.**

 **Just as the second arm was tied down he let go of the fighting and tried to catch his breath again.**

„ **You're quite a wild one.", Slipstream said, also gasping for air.**

„ **I must say I kind of like that about you, you know. You're quite defiant.", he grinned.**

 **The Doctor's answer was a hateful glare and a word he usually never used and if any of his companions did he would have rebuked them for bad language.**

„ **Rhymes, get that machine.", the president ordered without taking his eyes of his captive.**

„ **That wasn't very nice of you. You need to learn how to control your tongue."**

„ **And you need to learn how to treat people!"**

 **Slipstream gave one of his men a sign and the Doctor felt his head pressed down on the stretcher and held in place.**

„ **Enough talking.", Slipstream said, producing a thin white scarf out of the pocket of his jacket.**

„ **Don't you dare!", the Doctor hissed before the scarf was wrapped around his head and used as a gag.**

„ **Time to be silent.", Slipstream said while Rhymes came back with the machine the Doctor hated so much. And feared so much. His glare turned from furious to afraid, although he did try not to show it.**

 **While Rhymes prepared the electrodes, Slipstream unbottened the Doctor's shirt.**

 **Again,the Time Lord started struggling, but he couldn't do much more than squirming around while Rhymes fastened the electrodes on him.**

„ **Everything ready for the records?"**

 **Rhymes agreed to that.**

„ **Alright, he needs to learn a lesson.", Slipstream said. „Give him hell."**


	33. Chapter 32 - Risk

"That's insane!", I hissed after Jessy and Jeremiah had presented us their plan.

We had left the sewer again and were now hiding inside the ruins of a funeral parlour. The borders were even more secured than in Atlanta and there were five spotlights alone in this area. In front of the gate were patrols, on the walls itself too and there was no doubt that behind this huge gate there would be more soldiers.

Jessy and Jeremiah had decided to just go and try to knock out as many soldiers as possible, hopefully without being seen. Which would be really hard, because there weren't many opportunities left to hide ourselves. Which left us with only one opportunity. Jessy's bow.

"You want to kill them?!", Clara hissed.

"If you have a better idea, go on.", Jessy replied. "They are too many it's impossible to sneak around them and it won't get better on any other gate. The bow is our best chance. It's silent and discrete. They won't even notice."

I didn't really like this idea, but on the other hand I didn't have any other or better ideas.

"She's right.", Tom said. "If we don't take them down they will see us and you can be sure they won't hesistate killing us!"

I nodded. Clara and I still hated the idea of killing them, but it was our only chance to save our friend.

Jessy and two of the male warriors positioned themselves in different directions with their bows. It was important to take down the soldiers who were patroling in the shadows first, so none of their collegues would see them when falling down.

It was fascinating to watch them, their faces concentraed and their arms drawing their bows, ready to shoot. I really hoped this plan would work and they only would notice after JEssy and the others had already taken down a few of them. Tom and George both looked just as keen as I was. If something went wrong in this we wouldnßt have much of a chance to get out of here alive.

The first soldier came down by Jessy's arrow. He had been coming near is, into the shadow of the ruins and it had been easy for Jessy to hit his head. The only noise we heard was the _Frrrrr!_ when the arrow had left the bowstring. I didn't look at it. It was stressing enough for me to know that the soldier was dead now.  
"Alright, first one's down.", Jessy whispered to those wo couldn't see what happened from thei positions.

"Second's too.", one of the other guys answered. He had a beard and a very small bow. He had taken down one of the soldiers near the wall where the spotlight didn't reach the ground.

All in all it took them 30 minutes to take down five soldiers before someone noticed what was happening.

"Shit! Someone's here! Look!"

We could see all of the floodlights move onto the same spot. Jessy had taken down a soldiers in front of the gate after the floodlight had turned away. Now the rest of the soldiers saw that he was dead.

"Tony's dead too!", someone to our left yelled.  
"Okay, now it gets hard.", Tom said.

"You two.", he pointed at Clara and me. "Stay here, keep your heads down. You're not experienced in fighting, so just stay here. We'll pick you up after we're done."  
"If you don't die!", I replied. "This was such a stupid idea!"

"Just stay here!", Jeremiah ordered before he and his warriors and Tom and George got ready to fight. They crouched down beneath the walls with their guns loaded and waited for the soldiers to come and search the ruins.

We could hear the soldiers speaking, but they had lowered their voices, so we coldn't hear what they were saying. I really hoped they weren't planing to throw a grenade or something like that into the ruins. Since it was the only place around here to hide in they would absolutely know that we had to be in there.

We could see the soliders moving the floodlights directly onto the ruins, so that now, we were sitting ducks. Clara and I had a good place to hide in, but Tom told us to get into the cellar, so we would be completely out of the line of fire.  
"Come on!", Clara said, pulling by the hand. We headed down the stairs and found ourselves in dark cellar full of mould and rats.

"Great.", I said, covering my nose. The rats weren't the problem, but I had a slight allergy against the mould, which would cause me to cough sooner or later, and coughing wasn't exactly quiet.  
"Try to supress it.", Clara whispered.

"It's hard to supress an allergy!"  
"I know, but they will find us."

We hid inside the coffin room. It was big and we could hide behind the coffins.

"I really hope we won't end up in one of them.", I said.

"We can't.", Clara said while we crouched down behind one of the wooden coffins. "We have to save the Doctor."

I nodded. After a while we heard noises from above. Shouting and shots. The soldiers had attacked. I felt mysel trembling and I noticed that I even was praying for Tom, George and the others to get out of this alive. We didn't know how many soldiers had been on the other side of the wall so it was easily possible that they had much more fighters than our group had.

I started to feel guilty that I couldn't help them. I had never shot someone, even fighting was somethong I had never done in my life. I would've been dead in less than a second. We heard screams and even more shots and something that sounded like explosives.

"Oh God.", Clara said. "Let's just hope they can do this!"

I didn't know what to say to this. To sit there and hope that you won't be found and your people won't get killed was almost unbearable. Also it took huge selfcontrol to stop myself from coughing.

"This must be how people feel during a war.", I stated and Clara nodded.

After 20 minutes of just sitting there it went more quiet. We could still hear fighting noises, but they seemed to have moved from shooting at each other to fighting face to face.

Then, we heard someone coming down the stairs.  
"Let's look around, they may have more fighters down here!"

Clara and I exchanged paniced looks.

"They will find us!", she hissed.

"What do we do?"

Panicking we looked around while the foodsteps came closer.  
"I've got an idea.", Clara suddenly stated, "but you will hate it."

"I wish you hadn't said that."

I knew exactly what her idea was, she didn't even have to explain it to me.  
I sighed and, since this was our only chance, opened up one of the coffins and got inside.


	34. Chapter 33 - Lucky again

Sorry, this is a very, very short chapter!

It was so hard staying still. It was completely dark and also impossible to hear. All I actually heard was my racing heartbeat and my ragged breathing. I could feel the panic kick in again. My claustrophobia made it very hard for me to keep calm. I remembered what the Doctor had told me when we were crawling through the tunnel.

 _"Hey, you´re doing fine, don´t let the panic get to you!"_

I wish I could.

" _You can do this!"_

No, I really can´t! I notced my breathing becoming even faster and heavier. Although I knew that I needed to save the air in the coffin I couldn´t stop myself from panting.

 _"All you have to do is breathe calmly and regularly."_

I closed my eyes and took a deep, slow breath in. And breathed out and in again. It worked, my heartbeat slowed down and I felt myself calm down a bit. I couldn´t prevent myself from trembling though and I was a bit afraid of accidentaly firing my gun which I held in my hands in case one of the soldiers opened the coffin.

The feeling for time completely got lost and I already felt the air inside the coffin getting thinner. If at least I could hear something!

I screamed when the coffin got open and pointed my gun to the face looking down on me.

"Woah! It´s me! Look, it´s me!"

Heavily breathing I put the gun down and looked into Tom´s concerned face.

"Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of me!"  
He helped me get out and I could see Jessy on the other side of the room as she helped Clara getting out of her coffin. I tried do ignore the bodies of the dead soldiers on the floor.

"That was really clever.", Tom smiled at me and I nodded.

His shirt and trousers were full of blood and Jessy didn´t look any better.

"We need to get in, fast. There will be more coming. We managed to takethem all down, a few of us haven´t survived, we need to go."

Before I could tell her how sorry I was for their losses I got dragged out of the room by Tom and we hurried to get out of the cellar.

"Come on!"

Upstairs Jeremiah and the remaining men were waiting for us. We ran straight towards the gate which stood wide open now and into the centre of the city.

"Haha!", Jessy yelled smiling and pointed towards a group of vehicles, including a tank.

"It´s our lucky day today!"


	35. Chapter 34 - What the hell

+34+ - What the hell

 **The Doctor was weak, so weak. He couldn't even keep his eyes open. They had been working the machine on him for hours, testing the limits of his body and mind. He felt terrible. Everything hurt, although, actually he wasn't injured. But the pain had caused his muscles to spasm like crazy and he was left with a burning sensation in his body after they had finally turned off the machine and released him from the electrodes and straps that had held him in place.**

 **He was too weak to go an take another try to escape. They knew that, that's why they untied him and helped him to clean himself. The Doctor felt so dizzy, he didn't even realize that Rhymes helped him shower, because he was too weak to stand properly.**

 **After they put him into fresh clothes (again grey jumper and trousers) they brought him back to "his room". He didn't even notice they had brought him a completely new bed with fresh sheets and duvet covers. All he noticed was Rhymes and Slipstream gently pushing him down onto the bed.**

 **"Get away from me!", he wanted to yell, but it came out in hoarse, rattling whisper. His halfhearted efforts to get out of their grip only paid him a harsh whisper from Slipstream.**

 **"Lay down or I will strap you to that bed again!"**

 **"After the last time we left him unrestrained we should propably do that.", Rhymes admitted.**

 **"This will do.", Slipstream said as he cuffed one of the Doctor's wrists to the pipe on the wall which led to the heater under the window. The chain was long enough for the Doctor to sit up. "He will need to regain some energy. Also, we don't want our guest to feel uncomfortable, don't we?"**

 **He gave the Doctor a sick grin.**

 **"Sorry if I'm not laughing. What do I do if I need the toilet?"**

 **"You can use this.", Slipstream handed him a urine bottle.**

 **"And for the rest you can use the bedpan under your bed.", Rhymes stated.**

 **"Well, the sanitary equipment around here isn't really worth a star for your hotel."**

 **Rhymes smiled.**

 **"You still got your humor."**

 **"Maybe you haven't suffered enough."; Slipstream added.**

 **"It will take more than** **that to get me on my knees."**

 **Slipstream smiled coldly.**

 **"Well, then. You go to sleep and regain your energy and Rhymes and I will think of something to get you there."**

 **The Doctor only gave him an equaly cold smile for an answer.**

 **Slipstream and Rhymes left the room and the Doctor turned around to examine the handcuff. Unfortunately this was a very good quality, which meant he wasn't able to pick the lock. Besides he was too weak to make another attempt of escaping. He decided to once listen to Rhymes and Slipstream and get some sleep. His body would recover from the chemical pain the machine had caused and the spasms and he could make another try tomorrow.**

"Now what have we got so far?", the president asked Rhymes.

"Well, I don't think we've come far. It takes his willpower to use the bit of regeneration energy he's got left. And we both know it won't be enough to give him a full regeneration. This is his last body."

"So, you think we can't make him use it?"

"This is not something you can't control, like keeping someone from peeing and sooner or later they will pee into their pants. It's his decision to use it or not. And I actually think he'd rather die then give us what we want."

"Then we propably need to think of a different way of torture, maybe it's better to actually cause him physical pain instead of having him onto that machine.", Slipestream stated.  
They headed towards the main offices on the fourth floor while talking.

"Possible, but we'll have to be careful with that, he's not immortal as you know, too much torture will kill him."  
"We need something to put pressure on him.", Slipstream said. "With the right appliance of pressure he will propably give us what we want."  
Rhymes nodded, then a thought hit him.

"Do you think the girl is still alive?"

"Possible. I will sent an order to the soldiers in Atlanta to find her."

With that they had reached the office rooms and Slipstream told Rhymes to inform him if the Doctor would follow their advice and get some sleep.

When Rhymes had left he went to the bureau next to his desk and took the bottle of whisky down. He filled some of it in his glass and with a sigh he sat down in his chair. This day had been very exciting. They had almost lost their prisoner. He decided to double the guards infront of the door to the room the alien was kept in and send an appropriate order through his walkie-talkie to the lieutenant on the third floor.  
After the that he took a mouthfull of his whisky and sighed again. He had known that the Doctor was strong, people weren't calling him "The Oncoming storm" for no reason. But never had he expected that much defiance. He had to admit that he kind of admired the Doctor for that. He wasn't easy to break, but sooner or later they would do it.

Just as he was going to pick up his phone (he knew it would be Rhymes) he heard a huge crash and noise from beneath. He felt the floor beneath him vibrate and wobble. The glass of whisky on his desk slipped over the edge and crashed onto the floor.  
"What's going on?!"

He hurried to the window and looked down. On the ground floor there was a huge hole in the wall. Everything was full of dust and wreckage, glas too. He couldn't even believe what he was staring at. At first he wondered why the whole building was still standing, but then he realized the walls were still stabilized by the thing that had caused the hole.

"What the hell.", he said when he saw the huge tank that had just crashed into the hospital's wall.


	36. Chapter 35 - New hope

+35+ - New hope

 **The Doctor woke as a loud crash ripped him out of his sleep. He slowly sat up and listened to the** **noises outside. He could hear lots of voices shouting, it sounded like they yelled orders at each other. There was an awful noise when guns started shooting and the Doctor got up to go to the window. Only he had forgotten that he was tied to a pipe on the wall. He crashed down on the bedside when the chain stopped him in his moves.**

 **"Ouch!", he cursed when he fell and his knees hit the bedrail and he landed on the side of the bed with his upper body and on the floor with his legs. His shoulder almost got dislocated and his wrist started bleeding from the scratched skin.**

 **He heard the soldiers outside shouting and yelling. With his arm stretched out over the bed he got up again and loosened the breaks of the bed to push it aside. Now he had better access to the pipe and the other end of the handcuffs. Something was definetly going on and the way everyone was shouting and all the shots he could hear made him fear that it proapably wasn't something good. He grabbed the chain with both hands and tried to rip the pipe out of the wall, but there wasn't a chance. It was too felt fastened and the cuffs hurt him while pulling. Still, he didn't want to give up. He needed to get out of here!**

 **Twenty minutes later his wrist was bleeding and his hands couldn't get any grip anymore because they were full of blood. The Doctor sighed and looked around, kneeling on the floor. But there was nothing of use in here. The noises and the sounds from outside had gotten louder and he had heard people scream in agony and also the groaning of people who were dying.**

 **He almost got a double heart attack when there suddenly was a very loud crashing noise and the door to his room came down and just dropped "face first" to the floor. A dark skinned woman looked at him. Her hair was as black as her eyes, she held her shotgun right in front of her chest and her gaze was so furious he almost begged her to let him live. But he didn't say anything, he just stared at her.**

 **"I think I found him!", she yelled to someone behind her the Doctor couldn't see.**

 **"Really?! Oh, thank god!"**

 **The woman stepped aside and a girl rushed to the door. The Doctor's eyes widened and he let out a sigh of relief. His hearts almost exploded from the joy of seeing that figure, the pale skin, the converse, the black dress patterned with white crosses, the darkbrown long hair and the eyes! This green eyes!**

 **"Ena!"**

 **"Doctor!", she almost dropped over her own feet, rushing to his side. She throw his arms around him and hugged him so tight he almost couldn't breathe anymore.**

 **"You're alive!", he rejoiced and used his free arm to pull her even closer.**

 **"Yes, and you are too!", she sobbed.**

 **"Oi, don't you cry!", he said, pulling away from her, smiling. "Look, I'm fine! I'm okay!", he tried to calm her down. She could only nodd and wiped her tears away.  
"Alright, let's get you out of here."  
The Doctor noticed Ena had been holding something in her hand when she came in. Now he saw what it was and he almost kissed her when he heard the familiar sound. **

**"My sonic screwdriver!"**

 **"Fresh out of Rhymes office.", Ena grinned and opened the handcuffs.**

 **"Come on,", she said pulling him by the hand. "There's someone else who wants to see you!"**

 **Before he really realized what was going on they were in the corridor. Soldiers ran around, fighting with other people. The Doctor believed that those belonged to the group Ena came with here.**

 **"Doctor!", he heard someone call. This voice was familiar to him! He knew that voice! But how could she be here?**

 **"Doctor!", again arms were thrown around his neck, only this time he had to bent down more to hug the short young woman.  
"Clara!"**

 **"Oh, I'm so glad you're alright!"**

 **"So am I! How did you get here?"**

 **"The TARDIS took me here.", Clara answered, smiling.**

 **He turned to Ena.**

 **"She came back?"**

 **"Yes, but she shut down after she landed here, we had to hide her."**

 **"How did you..", he started, but got interrupted as more soldiers entered the corridor.**

 **"We need to get out of here!", Jessy yelled and everyone started moving. The men from Jessy's group kept the soldiers away from them by forcing them into face to face fights.**

 **"This way!", Jessy yelled and the Doctor and the girls followed her. All around them was fighting, or even worse: dead bodies. The Doctor tried not to think about it. He'd turn everything around and make things alright, but first they needed to get out of here.**


	37. Chapter 36 - Rescue

+36+ - Rescue

After they had crashed the tank into the wall, Jeremiah told me and Clara to say inside the tank, as we would not be of any use in the fight. Although the soldiers were in superior number, Jeremiah's men and women kicked their asses.

After what may have been like twenty minutes, George came back and told us that we could get out now. He led us inside the hopsital to Tom and Jessy.

"Okay, let's find our friend! We already checked everyhting around here.", Tom said and started walking. Around us were the noises of shots, shouts and even screams, some in agony, some in a ordering tone.

"Upstairs or downstairs first?", Jessy asked.

"Let's split up.", Tom suggested. "George and I will go and check the cellar, you check the first floor. Let's meet again in about thirty minutes ad we'll check the rest of the building."

We agreed to that and so Tom and George left downstairs while Jessy, Clara and I went upstairs. I unlocked the saftey of my gun and held it in both of my hands, ready to fire if necessary. Luckily for us all of the soldiers seemed to have coe downstairs to prevent the intrudors to get in further into the building. Noone noticed us. As we reached the first fllor the first thing I noticed was Rhymes, running out of one of the rooms. He headed our direction, saw us and then stopped and ran into the other direction.

"Hey! Get back here!", I screamed and made an effort to chase after him, but he started shooting at us and we had to duck away. Unfortunately we lost sight of him as he turned around the corner.

"God dammit!", I swore.

"Let's just check his room, maybe we'll find something interesting.", Clara suggested and I nodded.

There wasn't much space in Rhymes "office". Most of the bookshelves were filled with records about the virus and experiments. I wrinkled my nose as I scrolled through some of the notations. Jessy was outside, keeping out an eye for soldiers that may attack us.

"He extracted the virus from the Comubes and experimented with it to see if the human species can get infected with it too."

"Is that what happened to Jessy's daughter?", Clara asked.

I nodded . "I think so. That was when he found out what this virus can do."

"God... Look at all this notations... how many people may have suffered here?"

"Actually I really don't want to think about it.", I said. I took my backpack and stuffed the notations inside. "At least we now know, that it acutally was the alien virus, the Doctor will need this informations."

We continued our search for something useful as Clara made a strange noise while looking through some loose pieces of paper. While the rest of the records had been typedon a typewriter, these had been written by hand.

"What's wrong?"

"I have been testing the machine on the Time Lord today. He reacts less to pain than humans would do. I was able to increase the pain to a state where any human being would have lost conciousness. The blood results were quite confusing though. I need to do further research on that.

The subject also seems to be more defiant than the human specimen.

The bodytemperature only increased with further exposure to the pain.

After finishing the studys on the subjects's body to different external influences we will try to create the state of so called 'regeneration'"., Clara read. "What the hell is wrong with these people?!"

I felt my anger almost explode inside of me, but we had to keep calm until we were out of danger. I didn't succeed much in that.

"I can't believe it.. I will kill him!"

In my anger I ripped out a drawer out of its frame and threw it across the room. It hit the typewriter and the screen of the computer on the desk. Somthing fell out of it and rolled onto the floor. Despite my anger I made a happy gasp.

"The sonic screwdriver!"

"Alright, let's keep moving, we need to get him out of this hell!", Clara stated.

I picked the screwdriver up and we left the room again.

Outside we found Jessy standing on one of the windows of the corridor, pointing her bow. Obviously she was taking down some soldiers in the atrium to help her friends.

"Got anything you need?"

"Yes."

We checked the rest of the rooms, but there was no sign of the Doctor. We met Tom and George in the staircase.

"Have you found him?"

"No, you?", Tom asked.

"Not yet."

"Alright, you take floor two, we'll take floor three.", Geroge said and we headed right through the metal door.

Again, there was no sight of the Doctor, only a few soldiers which Jessy dealt with alone.

As Tom and George were on the thrid floor we decided to go for number four.

"That's my lucky number.", I stated.

"Well, let's find out if it's really lucky.", Clara answered.

First thing we noticed were the soldiers on this floor. There were three of them. One on the entrance to the eastern wing and two others on the north wing. We crouched behind the corner, so they couldn't see us. Killing them silenty wasn't an option here, because they were facing each other and would totally see if one of them was hit by an arrow.

"Alright, I will distract them.", Clara said.

"What? No, wait!", I yelled in a whisper, but she already was off and ran straight towards the guards. Then she turned on her heels and ran straight towards the other guard, before turning around again and then heading off to the righ to the only wing that wasn't guarded: the west wing.

"She's crazy!", Jessy stated. "I should have just shot them."

"Thesy would've seen us.", I said with a sorrow-stricken face.

"Let's just hope she's fast enough.", Jessy said.

We entered the north wing and found another pair of soldiers as we came around the corner. Again, we crouched behind the corner.

It took Jessy only seconds to shoot them both. As soon as the soldier had realized what is colleague had been hit by he dropped to the floor.

"Should we check what they've been guarding?", Jessy asked and I nodded.

"Well, have a look, I'll check the nurse's room, maybe there's something useful."

I hadn't even reached the room as I heard a crashing noise and then Jessy yelling to me.

"I think I found him!"

"Really? Oh, thank god!"

I sprinted back down the corridor again and rushed into the room. Jessy was standing beside the door she had taken down. I thought about the sonic screwdriver in my bagback and aske d myself why I haven't used it to open the door for her. But my thoughts soon vanished as I saw the man kneeling on the floor.

His right wrist was cuffed to a pipe on the wall. His normal clothes and bowtie were gone an dhe was wearing a grey jumper and grey trousers. His wrist was bleeding and his hair was clued to his head by sweat. He looked weak.

He looked at me and his face lit up.

"Ena!"

"Doctor!"


	38. Chapter 37 - Run!

+37+ - Run!

"How did you get rid of the soldiers?", I asked Clara, while we tried to find our way out of the hospital.

"Oh, that was easy. Lured them into a room, sneaked out again and locked them in."

"Clever girl.", the Doctor grinned.

He was walking between the two of us, while Jessy and Jeremiah (he had joined us on the third floor) kept attention to what was happening around us. The Doctor was still weak, although he tried not to show it. His wrist had stopped bleeding a few minutes ago and the blood had already started to get incrusted. He was slightly panting while walking and knees were still wobbly. Obviously it caused him a lot of efford to keep up with our pace. Clara and I needed to support him a bit. On our way to the exit he had told us that Naven was actually some guy named Slipstream and what he and Rhymes had been up to.

"Alright, we are noe getting down on the first floor.", Jeremiah said while walking towards the staircase.

Suddenly the door flew open. We could see something move and then Jessy yelled:

"Get down!"

Something flew through the air, right towards us. Instinctively I jumped to the right, pulling the Doctor with me. Then there was a huge bang. A noise I had never heard before. I feld my ears ring and they even started to hurt. The explosion knocked me off my feed and I got blown to the ground a few meters away. My ears kept ringing and I couldn't see anything except for dust. I coughed as I breathed it in. My knees hurted and I noticed that they had been scrached open when I had slithered across the floor. Same with my elbows and wrists. The ringing didn't stop and I pressed my hands against my ears, but it only got worse. A hand on my shoulder made me spin aorund, but it was only the Doctor. I couldn't hear what he was saying, only his lips moved.

I pointed at my ears and shook my head. He gave me a pitiyful look, then held out his hand to me as a sign to follow him. Slowly, I got up into a standing position and took his hand.

"What about the others?", I said. Or yelled, I'm not really sure.

The Doctor turned around as he answered me. This time I heard something like a mumbling, but still I couldn't understand what he was saying. Again I shook my head.

"They are fine.", he mouthed and continued to lead me through the chaos the grenade had caused. The ceiling had come down and had parted the corridor in two. Clara, Jessy and Jeremiah were obviously in the left side, while the Doctor and I were on the right side of the building. Between us a huge mount of wreckage and stones.

"We need to get down on the first floor.", the Doctor stated as he walked to the back of this wing.

"We'll meet the others downstairs."

This timeI finally heard him and even understood what he was saying. The ringing in my ears slowly disappeared.

"I think we should hurry.", I said, looking back at the huge wall of ruins that had come down from the above room. "Do you think they got in?"

"No, they were stupid enough to lock themselves out with that explosion. We are lucky it wasn't a bigger one . They could have taken down the whole building."

We were walking further into the corridors of the west wing, until we reached the other side of the hospital. Again, there was a staircase and also lifts. The Doctor walked straight towards the door of the staircase, when the doors of the lifts opened. He froze on the spot when Splipstream and Rhymes came out, both of them pointing their guns at us.

"Oh, great", I gasped. We were so close!

"Hello again.", Slipstream grinned. "Again trying to leave, Doctor?"

"Well, like I already mentioned the service around here really isn't that good."

How could he stay so calm when two guns were pointed at him?!

"And look who's with him. I have just sent out a few men to go looking for you."

The Doctor let go of my hand and tried to push me behind him.

"Oh, protective again, aren't we, dear?", Rhymes said and then, with one swift movement, he shoved the Doctor aside and grabbed my wrist. I gasped as he pulled me towards him, his grip on my arm like a plain vice. I could feel the metal on my temple, this was when adrenaline started to kick in. I stood perfeclty still as my survival instincts took over.

"Let her go!", the Doctor growled, getting on his feet again. Slipstreams gun still pointed at him and Rhymes gun on my temple stopped him from just grabbing me back. My heartbeat fastened and I tried to keep my breathing calm. I needed t keep a clear head right now!

"You'll come with us, we're leaving.", Slipstream said. "And then you will give us what we want!"

"You can't have it.", the Doctor growled.

"Then the girl will die.", Slipstream answered. "But we'll come back to that after we've left."

"I'm begging you, think of what you are trying to do! I'll tell you once again, even if I give you the tiny rest of my remainign regeneration energy, your plan won't work!"

"Shut up!", Rhymes yelled and the ringing in my left ear got worse again. "I will not give up on my dream! A living Time Lord in my grasp? I won't let you go, dear."

"God, look at you two.", the Doctor sighed. "Gone all nuts."

"Well, then, start walking.", Slipstream said, pointing to thelift with his free hand.

"Not until you let her go.", the Doctor stated stubbornly.

I fiddled with my belt, none of them seemed to even notice.

"This is a waste of time. You saved her once, Doctor, but you can't save her twice!", Rhymes yelled. Again everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The Doctor yelled something that sounded like "No!" and Slipstream seemed to be completely surprised about Rhyme's decision to shoot me. However, before Rhymes even got to chance to pull the trigger I pulled mine.

He screamed in agony as the bullet went trough his thigh and he fell down to the floor, whining. I took the gun out of his hand. The Doctor had taken advantage of Slipstream's surprise and tackled him to the ground. Slipstream growled something like "you little bitch!".

I knew from the moment he grabbed the Doctor (who was trying to get back to his feet) that he would never let us get out of here alive. He tried to pull the Doctor back to him, but I kicked him into his stomach and helped the Doctor up. "Come on!"

Unfortunately Slipstream was quickly back on his feet as well. And he was furious. His face was red and I could see the madness shining in his eyes.

"Run!", the Doctor shouted at me.

Just before we reached the lift something hard hit the back of my head and again, I got knocked out.


	39. Chapter 38 - The end?

+38+ - The end?

 **The Doctor had caught Ena before she slumped to the floor. He could see blood draining from the back of her head.**

 **"Nonononono!", he yelled. "Stay awake, stay with me!" Her hair was soaked in blood and his hands now were too. He could see Sliptsream searching around for his gun. He took the girl in his arms and carried her towards the lift, when he suddenly got pulled back by his clothing. He fell backwards and Ena landed on top of him.**

 **"You're not going anywhere!", Slipstream screamed, pulling the Doctor by the collar of his sweater, so Ena's unconcious figure just slumped to the floor.**

 **The Doctor had pretty much no choice but trying to crawl backwards, while Slipstream pulled him and almost cut off his breathing. He then let go of the Time Lord only to kick him in the back.**

 **The Doctor gave a slight groan. He couldn't give in now to how weak he still was or the pain, he needed to focus on staying alive. Ena needed his help. She needed medical treatment. He needed to focus on how to deal with this madman!**

 **Rhymes was still lying on the floor, whining and wincing, loosing lots and lots of blood.**

 **"He needs a doctor.", he told Slipstream who was standing above him, looking down on him.**

 **"I don't need him.", Slipstream only replied coldly.**

 **"I only need you! You and your magical energy!", he almost screamed and again kicked the Doctor who tried to get up again, "But you are so insolent, so stubborn, so defiant! WHY ARE YOU SO IRREPRESSIBLE!" Again and again he kicked the defenseless Time Lord until he lay flat down on the floor, panting. Slipstream straddled the Doctor and sat on the Time Lord's back and pulled at his hair so the Doctor had to hold his head up.**

 **"You're not so big now, aren't you, Doctor?", Slipstream hissed into the Doctor's ear, yanking** **at the Doctor's hair to make him groan.**

 **"Not so mighty, not reluctant at all."**

 **"You can't tame a Time Lord!", the Doctor spit out which earned him a growl and a blow on his rips.**

 **"Shut up!", Slipstream yelled and the Doctor groaned when Slipstream roughly grabbed him and turned him around onto his back before straddling him again.**

 **"You won't be so insolent when you're dead!", Slipstream roared and the Doctor made a rasping sound when Slipstream started to choke him with both hands around his neck. The Doctor desperately** **tried to get out of Slipstreams grasp, but the man weighted a lot more than he did and his grip** **was** **too firm. He squirmed under his captor while Slipstream laughed like crazy.**

 **"This is for my brother!", he whispered and watched the Doctor writhing under him.**

 **Although** **the Doctor was being strangled he forgot** **to breath for a moment as he heard** **the shot. He looked up at Slipstream who's lips had formed an "Oh" of utter surprise. The grip around his neck loosened and Slipstream looked down to his left side, where the bullet had entered his body just above his hips.**

 **The Doctor freed himself from Slipstreams choking hands and started coughing and desperatly trying to suck in some air at the same time. Slipstream fell off the Doctor with a quiet moan and writhered on the floor, next to Rhymes who was now taking care of his own wound and** **was** **too busy to notice what was going on.**

 **The Doctor got on his knees and turned around to see who had saved him.**

 **And there she was. Hair and hands full of blood, shaking and still pointing the small gun at the spot where Slipstream had been kneeling five seconds ago.**


	40. Chapter 39 - A new plan

**+39+ - A new plan**

 **"Hey, come on, we need to move.", the Doctor was softly saying to his companion, gently pushing her towards the lifts. He had taken the gun from her, as she was still shaking and tears kept running down her face. As they reached the doors the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to call the lift. He gently lead Ena in by pulling her by the hand, the doors closed behind them and he pressed the button for the ground floor.**

 **"I just shot two men!", she suddenly freaked.**

 **"No.", the Doctor stated in a soft voice. "Well, you shot at them, yes. But they're not dead."**

 **"Not yet!", she yelled back. She was getting hysterical, he needed to calm her down.**

 **With a soft grip he held her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes.**

 **"You did what needed to be done! You saved me! Rhymes is a doctor, he will be able to save himself and Slipstream."**

 **She looked at him, sobbed and then silently nodded.**

 **"Besides when I'm done here, none of this will have happened."**

 **"Will I still remember it?"**

 **"Yes. Because you will be at the eye of the storm, with me. We do this together, okay?"**

 **"If I can remember it it still happened.", she stated in a whisper. The Doctor placed a hand upon her cheek.**

 **"It will be alright, it won't have happened to them and they won't remember it. Everything will be rewritten. You know I don't like guns and all that stuff, but you saved me! And now I will be able to put an end to all of this.", he smiled at her.**

 **The corners of her mouth moved a little and he counted it as a smile. Then suddenly she seemed to awaken from the state of shock she was in. Her eyes grew wide and she looked at him suddenly all excited.**

 **"Wait, you've got a plan?!"**

 **He grinned at her, glad to have er back focusing on what they were always doing: saving the day.**

 **"Yes!", he laughed. "I've got a plan! Of course I've got a plan! Let's grab Clara and off we go!"**

 **The doors of the lift opened with a _Bing!_ and the Doctor strolled out to the group of people who had been waiting outside. Ena couldn't help but smile. There he was again: the Doctor. The madman with a box.**

 **"Oh, thank god!", Clara immediatley hugged both of them. "What happened? We heard shots! Oh my stars, Ena what happened to your head?"**

 **"Long story.", the Doctor stated. "No time for that now, we need to get moving!"**

 **"Moving where?", Clara asked.**

 **"Where you've parked the TARDIS."**


	41. Chapter 40 - Time can be rewritten

+40+ - Time can be rewritten

As soon as we had left the hospital we stole one of the vans that were parked in front of the hospital. The Doctor had grabbed some dressing material and tried to fix the wound on the back of my head as much as possible. Jessy was driving, Jeremiah and George were with her on the front seats while Clara, Tom, The Doctor and me were in the back of the military van.

"Doctor, you can't suture me while we are driving!", I freaked.

"Shut up, I'm the Doctor, I can do this." He didn't look that convinced, But since the wound wouldn't stop bleeding and I really didn't want to pass out again (I suffered from anaemia, so passing out was going to happen quickly) I led him do it. But of course not without lots of swearing, complaining and moaning.

"Done.", he finally said and I really hoped that I wouldn't look like Frankenstein's bride.

"Will this leave a scar?"

"Yes, but your hair will cover it, Misses 'I am so vain, I just got cracked my head open by a linatic who has started a zombie apocalypse and all I can think of is if I will be scarred.'"

I stuck my tongue out at him and he grinned at me.

"Thank you.", I said.

"You're welcome. Besides I need you."

"You still haven't told us about your plan yet.", Clara said and Tom added:

"Yeah, what's the big plan?"

"Well, first I will need to get to the TARDIS, you said she shut down, so I presume that she still needs to be fixed. And then I will put everything alright."

"You said that none of this will have happened.", I stated, "what does that mean?"

"Time can be rewritten.", the Doctor simply said.

"Wait, are we going to kill Slipstream before he can do all this?", Clara asked with disbelief.

"No."

An idea hit me.

"You're going to prevent the Comube's ship from crashing!"

He pointed a finger at me and grinned.

"And there goes the winner! Yup, that's exactly what we will do."

"To prevent the virus from getting on earth in th first place!", Clara added and the Doctor nodded.

"Wait, now I'm lost, what does that mean? Will you just erase all of this from history? And all of this will never have happened?"

"Yes.", the Doctor said as we stopped by the university where we had left the TARDIS. Jessy and Jeremiah turned around to us.

"When the comubes crashed here some or one of them was sick. They brought the virus here which later lead to the zombie-creatures you were all facing. Rhymes and Slipstream found the crashed ship and started to do some research, easy for Rhymes as he has worked with alien species before and easy for Slipstream, since he's from the future and had a lot to do with aliens too. However, they found the sick comubes and started experimenting on them. Obviously at some point they started trying to infect humans with the virus, which is when they found out what it can do." He gave Jessy a pityful face.

"But none of this will have happened when I'm done, so let's get going! He jumped out of the van and we followed him.

"Wait!", Jessy said as we started walking. She ran up to the Doctor.

"If you say none of this will have happened, will I have my daughter back?"

"Will we have our normal lives back?", George added.

"Yes.", the Doctor said with a smile. "I'll give you back everything you have lost. But I also remind you, that you will forget all the people that you have met after the outbreak."

I saw George and Tom looking at each other and then both saying at the same time: "I can live with that!"

It took the Doctor almost an hour to fix the TARDIS. She was exhausted and had used up all her power when she had brought Clara here, but luckily she had recovered over the past days. All the Doctor had to do was exchanging the broken switching networks, which took a while, because almost all of them had had a short time overload when she was crossing through to the time vortex and back to earth again.

My headache had gotten better after the Doctor had given me a strange pink pill. Jessy and Jeremiah were still walking around, totally stunned by the size of the ship, while George was sitting on one of the seats, arms crossed and pulling of his usual grumpy gaze. Tom was talking to Clara about the rules of time travelling. I was simply sitting on the second seat, pressing a cool pack on the back of my head.

"Alright, team! I am done!", the Doctor yelled, while climbing up the stairs. He had changed back into his usual clothes, black trousers, light shirt, braces, waistcoat and the bowtie. Only the coat was missing. He was cleaning his hands from oil with a piece of rag, just throwing it over his shoulder when he had finished. It landed on the railing. The Doctor pulled a lever and pressed a few buttons and the TARDIS sprang to life. The lights turned on and we heard the humming of the machines.

"Oh, wow.", Tom said, looking around.

"I love the lights.", Jessy stated.

"She's beautiful isn't she?", the Doctor smiled.

"Yes.", Jessy said with a smile.

"Okay, here we go!"

He pulled another lever and the TARDIS started dematerializing. So did Tom, George, Jessy and Jeremiah.

"You're leaving them behind?", Clara asked.

"If I take them with us they will remember all of this. If I want to give them their normal lives back they need to forget about all this zombie-stuff."

"I have a question.", Clara stated. "You did this once, with me. When we were in the wracked TARDIS. How come I forgot that, then later remembered it and now I won't even forget it in the first place?"

"Time travel is complicated. It depends on how long you've been in the Time Vortex at once. Also, when we were on Tranzelore, everything was full of paradoxes, lots and lots of anomalys. That's what brought you're memories back."

"So, we will still remember this?"

"Yes."

I wasn't really sure what they were talking about, since this was something that propably had happened before I met the both of them. Clara had told me something about the Doctor's Time stream and how she jumped into it to save him, but I had to admit that it was quite confusing and I dind't actually get what they were talking about.

"Okay, so now..", the Doctor said and kept spinning a little wheel on the TARDIS' console ".. all I need to do is locating the crashing ship and... haha! There it is! Grab something to hold on!"

Instinctively I grabbed the railing with both hands and pulled my body close to it. As soon as the Doctor had finished talking the TARDIS startes shaking like crazy and we had problems to stay on our feed.

"Alright, let's do this!", the Doctor shouted over the noise that was coming in when he opened the doors.

We found ourselves in an engine room. There was red light everywhere and the sound of an alarm ringing in our ears. The ship was shaking and rumbling, Obviously it was already crashing.

"What do we do?", I shouted against the noise.

The Doctor haned us some tiny earplugs.

"First of all put these in your ears! They're communicators!"

He handed Clara a piece of glasses. "And this! That's a camera." He placed another pair of glasses in his own face. "Now I will see what you see!"

It was hard to understand him while there was so much noise around us. Until he turned on the communicators.

"Can you hear me?!", he yelled.

"Ouch!", I pulled a face to the sudden pain in my ear. "Yes, we can hear you."

"Alright, I will have a look at the engines. You two: get uo and find the control room! You need to convinve the captain to do exactly as I tell him!" We nodded. "Off you go!"

We started sprinting upstairs and followed the metal bridges that lead across the engine room until we reached a small door. We climbed through it and found ourselves in a corridor.

"Ew, they need to rething their choice of colours.", Clara statet, as we faced an orange wall. The floor was green and the ceiling was purple. "Look, there's a map!"

She walked down the corridor for a few metres and we checked out the big map that was pinned to the wall.

"Looks like we're on the right deck already. All we need to do is walk straight ahead."

She was right. After five minutes we had found the control room. We ran in and immediately were faced by ar ound 20 wobbly balls of aliens. Like the Doctor had described them to me, they didn't seem to have a real shape. They were just sort of floating balls of gelantine in different colours. Some of them changed their colour all the time from green to red, then blue and so on.

I wondered if that was something they would do when they are under stress.

"Who are you?", the captainf (or at least I thouht that he or she was the captaint, since it had the biggest chair) asked. It sounded a bit like someone was trying to talk under water.

"Don't worry ', we are friends, we're here to help you!"

"Sir, some unknown lifeform is in the enigne room!"

"That's our friend!", I quickly stated. "Doctor, can you hear me?"

"Yes I can hear you.", the Doctor's voice said in my ear. "I'm on the motor that causes the trouble right now."

"There's no need to be afraid."; Clara tried to convince them. "We only want to help you. Our friend is really good with spaceship engineering he will help you!"

Luckily for us the comubes were a very friendly, peaceful and trusting species. They seemed to accept the fact, that suddenly there were two strangers in their control room and one in their engine room, pretty fast.

"Clara, please go to the controls!"

I could see her step closer and I followed her and stood beside the captains seat.  
"Please don't get mad when we start pressing buttons."

"If it saves us you can do whatever you like."; the captain bubbled.

"Alright, Clara, press that little red button on the left.", the first order came, I could hear the sonic screwdriver in the background while the Doctor was talking. "And then please, pull the lever in the middle."

The ship started shaking even more.

"Ouuhhm, okay, okay, pull it back again!", the time lord said and Clara followed his order. "Uhm, try the one on the right."

Clara tried to reach the lever, but the controls were too huge and her arms too short. So, I did it for her. Immediately the ship stopped shaking at all.  
"Good! Now press all the green buttons above the screen!" Again, Clara did what the Doctor said. Still, there was the noise of the sonic screwdriver in the background.

"Sir, the engines are reaching their normal temperatures again!", one of the crew members stated.

"Okay and now the last step, again the lever in the middle, please!"

As soon as I pulled the lever the noise stopped and the alarm went off. The captain and the crew members checked their displays.  
"Everything is back to normal!"

"Ladies...", the Doctor's voice in my ear cheered. "We did it!"


	42. Chapter 41 - Back to normal

+41+ - Back to normal

Back in the TARDIS I ran to the console.

"Did it work?", I asked excitedly.

"Well, let's see, shall we?", the Doctor smiled and pulled a lever. The TARDIS took off and a few moments later she landed again. Clara and I ran to the doors.

There it was. Atlanta. The TARDIS had landed in a small alley. Noone seemed to have noticed the big blue box. The city was full of people, carrying lots of shopping bags or coffee mugs. The shops and cafés and restaurants seemed to be bursting, there were people everywhere.

"Is this 2038?", I asked.

"Yep.", the Doctor stood between us, looking satisfied.

"All of this never happened?", I asked. Although I knew what we just had done, I couldn't quite believe it.

"No zombie apocalypse."

"What about the others?", Clara asked. "What happened to them?"

The Doctor gave us a sign to follow him back in again. He turned the screen around that was fastened on the consoles, so that Clara and me could see what it was showing.

He typed in something on a keyboard which he had taken out from under the console. The screen flickered and then we saw soemthing. It was a house, we were watching a restaurant, obiviously the Doctor had just hacked a security camera.  
"That's Bill! He's alive!", I cheered.  
"Oh, and there's Pete too!" There were other people with them, obviously their wifes and children. I couldn't hide a smile. The screen flickered again, this time there was a playground and we saw Tom, playing with two little kids.

"That's just awesome.", Clara grinned.

Again the screen flickered. We saw a garden, with a long table across the green grass. It looked like a birthday party. There were kids running around, playing, someone was bringing cake to the table.

"Jessy!"

We saw her puttung down the cake and then hugging a little girl who had thrown her arms around her mum's waist.

"That's Abigail, isn't it?", Clara asked.

"Yes.", the Doctor answered. "All well and not a bit zombie."

I threw my arms around his neck, for some reason I couldn't help it.

"Thank you.", I whispered. He returned the hug, beofre he suddenly let go.

"Oh, there's one more thing."

The screen flickered again and we saw Slipstream. He was struggeling agains two Judoons who just seemed to have arrested him.

"What have you done?", I grinned.

"Oh, I did a bit of research, before we started from the destroyed Atlanta, and I found out that someone had stolen the weakth of one of the members of the shadow proclamaition. So, I thought about who would be that stupid. Then I made a phone call.", he winked at us and we watched Slipstream being dragged away.

"What about Rhymes?"

"Oh, I hardly doubt he will ever get seduced to the side of evil as long as he never meets Slipstream."

The TARDIS fitted exactly in the space bewteen the bookshelf and the other side of the room of our "reading room" as we called it.  
"I told you not to land in here!, The winds knocks everything off the shelves!", I heard Dillon complain, before I even opened the doors. Clara and me had been showering and dressed in fresh clothes, so we wouldn't be full of blood. Also, the Doctor had taken me to a space hospital to get the wound on my head removed. I wished everything would be that easy. They ad pulled the strings and had given me a pill. As soon as I had taken it the wound closed like it had never been there.

"I don't want to get into trouble.", the Doctor had mumbled.

I stepped out and immediately wrapped my hands around my fiancé's neck.

"Hello, kitty.", he said soflty and kissed me. "Back from the trip?"  
I nodded and snuggled closer to him. He was so warm! And I was finally home!

"Hello!"

I let go of Dillon, so he could say hello to the others. He hugged Clara and then the Doctor.

"Is everything alright?", Dillon asked and I smiled.  
"Yes, everything's fine! Anyone up for going out?"

"Sure!", the Doctor smiled and clapped his hands together. "Anyone fancies some ice cream?"

\- THE END-

 _Gosh, I can't believe I finished this story :D I've been writing on it for almost two years!_

 _Well, I hoped you enjoyed! Thanks for reading! 3_


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